Status: 02/15/2022 10:15 a.m
Chancellor Scholz has landed in Moscow for his inaugural visit. In talks with Russian President Putin, he wants to try to find a solution to the Ukraine conflict. He refused a Russian PCR test.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has refused to be tested for corona by the Russian side before his meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Instead, the SPD politician decided to have the PCR test required for access to the Kremlin carried out by a doctor from the German embassy after landing in Moscow.
The Russian health authorities had been invited to be present at the test, according to the Chancellor’s environment. A test device was brought from Germany.
Scholz himself, his entire delegation and the journalists traveling with him – together more than 50 people – had to present a total of three negative PCR tests before leaving Germany.
Macron had also refused a PCR test
French President Emmanuel Macron also rejected a Russian PCR test during his visit to Moscow a few days ago. The result was drastic distance rules during the conversation in the Kremlin: Putin and Macron sat at the ends of a six-meter-long white table. At the press conference, too, the lecterns were several meters apart.
Scholz landed in Moscow in the morning, where a long conversation with Putin is planned for several hours in private. The focus will be on the Ukraine crisis, which is getting worse and worse. In the past few days, the United States has repeatedly warned of a possible imminent Russian attack on Ukraine. Russia dismissed this as “scaremongering”.
Baerbock reiterates demand for troop withdrawal
Before the meeting, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reiterated her call for Russian troops to withdraw from Ukraine’s borders. The responsibility for de-escalation “clearly lies with Russia,” she said before her first visit to NATO partner Spain.
“At the borders with Ukraine, the fate of an entire country and its population is currently at stake due to the Russian troop deployment. The situation is extremely dangerous and can escalate at any time,” warned the minister. During her short visit to Madrid, the Green politician will hold talks with her Spanish colleague José Manuel Albares.
Baerbock emphasized that “in this extremely dangerous crisis” the West must make it clear “with all consistency” that it stands united behind the European peace order that has been built up over decades. Spain is one of the most important and closest partners. Because of the Ukraine crisis, Spain has deployed four fighter jets to Bulgaria and sent three warships to the Black Sea.