German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Figure: flipping Twitter (file photo)
During the Russian aggression against Ukraine, a large number of civilian casualties have been caused, which has aroused the concern of the international community. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been denied a visit to Ukraine, and Ukrainian authorities have said the Kyiv government wants German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to visit and has promised more arms aid. Shawz responded on the 13th that he felt “irritating” that Steinmeier was denied a visit to Ukraine. Shawz also revealed that he has no current plans to visit Ukraine.
“The president is willing to go to Ukraine and meet the Ukrainian president, and it would be great if he could be received,” Shoads told the Berlin-Brandenburg broadcaster (RBB), according to Archyde.com. He went on to say: “I don’t Would like to comment more. The polite way of saying this is that it’s a little uncomfortable.” Asked if he planned to visit Kyiv, Schotz replied that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ) more frequently than any politician in any Western country.
Not only was Schotz “uncomfortable”, the Ukrainian move was widely seen in Germany as a diplomatic insult. Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, explained in an interview with German television 2nd (ZDF) on the 13th that the Ukrainian government rejected Steinmeier’s visit, stressing that Zelensky No offense to Berlin, he said: “I think the main reason is different, the president of our country expects the prime minister (visit) so that he (Shoz) can directly make pragmatic decisions, including the provision of arms”.
Steinmeier recently visited Warsaw, the capital of Poland, to thank Poland for its dedication to Ukrainian refugees. A month and a half since Russia invaded Ukraine, Poland has taken in 2.6 million refugees. After meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Steinmeier mentioned that he originally planned to visit Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, with the presidents of Poland and the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, etc., to express strong European support to Ukraine. However, he admitted that “I wanted to go, but I learned that Kyiv didn’t want him to go.”
Steinmeier served as chief of staff to former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder before becoming German president. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel also served as foreign minister for two terms when he was in power, leading Russia policy for nearly 15 years. Steinmeier advocated maintaining dialogue with Russia, calling it an “indispensable partner”. Even though Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014, he still ignored warnings from Poland, Ukraine and other countries and pushed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline with all his might, causing tensions between Germany and Eastern European countries.
Steinmeier has changed his stance, admitting last week that he had miscalculated the situation and harshly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin for “destroying Russia’s economy, politics and morals for the sake of imperial dreams and delusions.” The German major newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” commented that Ukraine’s rejection of Steinmeier’s visit shows the extent to which Germany’s prestige has declined in Eastern Europe; the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will forever sink to the bottom of the Baltic Sea, becoming Schroeder and May Monument to Kerr’s government mistakes.