Chancellor Olaf Solz has said he has no plans to visit Kyiv at this time because of the exclusion of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He even spoke about “obstacle».
Mr Steinmeier’s exclusion from a visit to Kyiv scheduled for April jointly with the presidents of Poland and the Baltic states “stands in the way” of a visit by the chancellor, Mr Soltz said in an interview. on the second channel of the German public television ZDF.
Olaf Solz even described the cancellation of the German president’s invitation by the Ukrainian side as “a very remarkable process” and, answering a question about how this obstacle could be removed, was categorical: “First of all, for us Democrats, it must be part of our job to have no doubts. You can not say that the president of a country that offers so much military aid, so much financial support and what is needed in terms of security guarantees is not allowed to visit the country. And when in fact this president has just been re-elected by such a large majority“, He stated.
In Kyiv, however, he announced today that the leader of the Christian Democratic Party will leave within a week (CDU) Friedrich Mertz, in order to express his support for the Ukrainian leadership. Mr Solz said he was aware of the visit and said he had no objections to it, although the CDU leader had previously indicated that the government had expressed reservations. “As an MP and leader of the opposition, I claim that I can decide for myself whether to make such a trip or not,” said Mr Mertz, criticizing the chancellor for not having visited Kyiv since his inception. of war. “The federal government does not need to judge or comment on this, this is my decision,” he said, adding that he had not sought protection from the Federal Crime Agency, which, following the recent Russian missile attack in Kyiv during UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s visit, prevents German politicians from visiting Ukraine.
Mr Mertz also said he had advised the chancellor to go to Kyiv himself, “but he has not done so and there is no reason to wait for a member of the government to plan the trip.” «If someone is invited, they decide for themselves whether to go or not. And I do not even ask for permission“, Said the leader of the CDU, referring to the invitation addressed to him by the Ukrainian parliament. However, he did not reveal whether he was going to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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