Chancellor Olaf Scholz has come under international criticism for his reticence in the Ukraine crisis. Now he’s getting involved in travel diplomacy – and not too little.
Berlin – First to Washington, then to Kiev and Moscow: With a series of trips abroad and several meetings in Berlin, Chancellor Scholz is significantly stepping up his efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis over the next two weeks.
As announced by Deputy Government Spokesman Wolfgang Büchner, the Chancellor will visit Kiev on February 14 before meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow a day later.
Meeting with the US President on Monday
Scholz is leaving for Washington this Sunday and will then be received by President Joe Biden in the White House on Monday. Already there, the tensions with Russia because of the deployment of troops on the border with Ukraine will be the focus. On the one hand, it was a “classic inaugural visit”, according to government circles. But it is also “a visit in special times, in times of crisis”.
Scholz had come under international criticism in the past few days for his reticence in the Ukraine crisis. Only after much hesitation did he put the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline on the table as a possible sanction instrument – and only covertly, without naming it. At the same time, he gave a clear refusal to supply arms to Ukraine, something that Ukraine and eastern NATO allies now resent. Doubts about the reliability of Germany are also being voiced in the USA.
Macron and Duda are expected in Berlin
In German government circles it is now said that the secret package of sanctions in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine was prepared under the leadership of Germany and the USA: “In this process, the cooperation between the federal government and the American administration set the pace – also for the cooperation between the US and Europe as a whole.”
In the past few days, the impression has been given that French President Emmanuel Macron has taken the lead in the Ukraine crisis on the EU side. He has called Russian President Vladimir Putin three times in the last few days and will be visiting him in Moscow on Monday. The day after, a meeting with the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymyr Zelensky, is on the agenda.
It is planned that Macron and Polish President Andrzej Duda will then come to Berlin. The heads of state and government of the Baltic States have announced that they will meet in Berlin on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is also continuing her mediation efforts: she will travel to Ukraine again next week. According to a spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office, she will meet Head of State Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kiev on Monday. On Tuesday she will visit the front line between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass conflict zone. The spokeswoman said that she would get an idea of the military and humanitarian situation there. dpa
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