JUST IN: Schröder’s Russian proposal as a mediator for Ukraine receives a double slam from Germany and the EU | International
According to recent reports, the following story has emerged from the international scene.
Last weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the possibility that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, with whom he has always had a special relationship, would act as a mediator in future talks between Russia and the European Union to end the war in Ukraine. But this proposal has been strongly rejected by both Brussels and Berlin. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, rejected this Monday Putin’s proposal to appoint Schröder as a European representative in future talks with Moscow. “It would not be very prudent to grant Russia the right to appoint a negotiator for the EU,” he stated before the start of the summit of foreign ministers of the Twenty-seven held in Brussels. Given that the former German chancellor has defended the interests of Russian state companies, he recalled Estonian politics, “he would sit on both sides of the table.” The German Government was also against it. The offer, government sources in Berlin reported on Sunday, is part of a series of fictitious offers and is part of Moscow’s well-known hybrid strategy. “Germany and Europe will not allow themselves to be divided by this,” they stressed. “The negotiation option is not credible, since Russia has not changed its conditions. A first test of credibility would therefore be an extension of the ceasefire by Russia.”More informationThe Kremlin had recently declared that it was up to the European governments to take the first step, since it was they who, in 2022, after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, broke all contact with Moscow. Closeness to the KremlinIn Germany, Schröder has been the subject of censure for years for his closeness to Putin and his work in Russian energy companies, always in the orbit of the Kremlin. These criticisms intensified following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and led to several motions for his expulsion from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which failed. Schröder, 82, was chancellor of a government coalition between the SPD and the Greens from 1998 to 2005 and has maintained a personal friendship with Putin ever since.
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Source: This article was originally published in another language by Internacional en EL PAÍS and has been translated and adapted for our global English-speaking audience. Read the original article here.