German President Steinmeier admits 'mistakes' over Russia policy
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Loading... - Debora Costa
- 05 Apr 2022
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Frank- Walter Steinmeier, Germany's current president and former foreign minister, conceded on Tuesday that German policy towards Russia in recent years should have been more cautious and sceptical.
"We failed on many points," the president told German public broadcaster ZDF. "It is true that we should have taken the warnings of our eastern European partners more seriously, particularly regarding the time after 2014."
The comments from Steinmeier, who served as foreign minister under former Chancellor Angela Merkel, most recently between 2013 and 2017, come amid heavy criticism over his connections with Russia.
One of Steinmeier's most prominent critics of his ties with Russia has been the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk. He called Steinmeier's comments a "first step" in an interview with Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio.
Melnyk, however, urged action, not just words.
"I would rather, as would many of my people, that the German president wouldn't just show regret, but would call on the government to take the lessons from the massacre at Bucha, from the other atrocities that are being witnessed day and night in Ukraine," the ambassador said.
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Melnyk had previously implied that Steinmeier held the similar view to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "there is no Ukrainian people," according to an interview with the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.
The ambassador also claimed that the German president had too many vested interests in Russia, a criticism that was rejected by government spokesperson Wolfgang Büchner.
Steinmeier was foreign minister during the years of Ostpolitik — an attempt to strengthen ties, especially on energy, with Russia. He was also leading the Foreign Ministry in the wake of the previous Russian invasion of Ukraine, which ended with Moscow taking de facto control of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and backing a continuous war in the eastern Donbas region. Read More...
