Chancellor Scholz rules out peace negotiations in Ukraine with Russian President Putin. He also appealed to Chinese President Xi Jinping not to get involved in the war.
More than a year after Russia’s cruel declaration of war on Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz sees no reason to sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss the end of the war.
No peace deal
“Nothing indicates that Russia is willing to negotiate peace,” said Scholz in the Bundestag speech, which was delivered a year ago. Zeitenwende marked, the promised turnaround in the defense field. Russia has invaded Ukraine. No peace deal can be reached over the heads of Ukrainian citizens.”
At the same time, Scholz urged Putin to withdraw Russian combat troops on Ukrainian territory. “Then the war can be over in a moment.” According to the German, it is important that Putin also hears this message from other world leaders.
Scholz had a message in particular for his Chinese colleague Xi Jinping: “Use your influence to get the Russian soldiers to leave. [uit Oekraïne] and do not supply weapons to the Russian aggressor.” According to Western intelligence, China is seriously considering arms transfers to Russia. The US Department of Defense issued an explicit appeal to China on Tuesday to refrain from doing so.
After the Bundestag speech, Scholz flew to Washington on Thursday morning, where he will meet with US President Joe Biden. It is the chancellor’s first visit to the White House since the Russian invasion on February 24 last year.
Defense neglected
After Scholz’s speech, CDU leader Friedrich Merz strongly criticized Germany’s lagging defense spending. “A year after the Zeitenwende, we are further away from the NATO standard of 2 percent,” said Merz.
Last year, the federal government promised to invest 100 billion euros in the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces that had been neglected for the past thirty years. According to Merz, only 600 million euros of this defense budget has been spent so far. The Christian Democrat also denounced the division within the federal government about the lack of a federal security strategy. “The internal coalition struggle over responsibilities ensures that Germany is late everywhere.”
Watch our videos about the war in Ukraine in the playlist below:
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