“Only One Thing Brings Peace”
Scholz attests to Putin’s lack of a sense of reality
05/13/2022, 10:55 p.m
After a phone call with Russia’s President Putin, Chancellor Scholz says that Moscow has not yet understood that a dictated peace is not a viable solution for Ukraine. The SPD politician makes it clear: real peace does not come about on the battlefield.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of a lack of realism after a phone call. “It is clear that it has not yet been understood that only one thing makes peace possible … only if there is an understanding, an agreement, a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, which is not a dictated peace,” said the SPD politician in Cologne at his party’s final rally two days before the state elections.
“Revanchism and imperialism must not determine reality in Europe,” said Scholz in front of around 1,500 spectators. Russia is waging a “brutal war of aggression against an innocent neighbor solely to expand its own power and expand its own territory,” said the Chancellor. Germany will continue to deliver weapons to Ukraine, said Scholz. “We will not accept a dictated peace for Ukraine.”
Scholz pointed to the consequences of the war for Ukraine and drew a comparison to Germany. 77 years after the end of World War II, duds are still being found in Germany. Citizens would also “remember Putin’s war in Ukraine for another 100 years”. Germany is obliged to help Ukraine. But that must not lead to a military confrontation between NATO and Russia.
A new state parliament will be elected in North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday. Numerous surveys see a head-to-head race between the CDU and SPD in the most populous federal state.