It is possible that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is allegedly holding secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to resolve the situation in the Donbass, Peter Raf, a magazine columnist and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said in an article for Foreign Policy.
Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron are trying to find a way to negotiate with Putin in order to resolve the situation around Ukraine, despite the fact that after the start of the Russian special operation they expressed a rather tough position on this issue. It included intentions to “appease” Russia, abandon economic ties with it, and also increase the size of the German armed forces.
Raf writes that the German chancellor is making contact with the Russian Federation despite the heterogeneous opinions in the German government – the country’s Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock opposes such a position. The observer recalled a tripartite 80-minute conversation involving Scholz, Putin and Macron.
Scholz is also convicted by Raf of “minor” assistance to the Ukrainian side due to the fact that Germany is delaying the supply of heavy weapons to Kyiv.
According to the author of the material, this all speaks of the German Chancellor’s desire for diplomatic methods of resolving the conflict in Donbass, “disregard for hard power” and attitude towards Ukraine as “an element of his policy towards Russia.”
The observer concludes that all these factors substantiate the reports widespread in Germany about secret negotiations between Berlin and Moscow.
“The fact that Berlin is awash with rumors of secret talks with Russia suggests that Germany would rather disappoint Ukraine than humiliate Russia, whatever that means. For example, if Putin offers to lift the blockade of Odessa in exchange for easing sanctions, or to suspend hostilities in recognition of the new line of contact, the voices for concessions will only grow,” the analyst wrote in a June 16 article.
Also, this position is supported by the United States, since, according to Raf, the Americans refrain from approving the victory of Ukraine in their rhetoric.
On June 17, the Die Welt newspaper reported that Scholz, Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi tried behind closed doors to convince Kyiv to compromise with Russia in the conflict in Donbass and sit down at the negotiating table. In exchange for this step, the heads of European states allegedly promised Ukraine support in the issue of joining the European Union.
In the Donbass, a special operation of the Russian Federation to protect the population of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics continues, the beginning of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24. Moscow explained that its tasks include the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. On April 19, the Russian side announced the start of the next stage of the military operation – “the complete liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics.”
The situation in the region escalated significantly in mid-February due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. The authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics announced the evacuation of residents to Russia and turned to Moscow for help. On February 21, the President of the Russian Federation signed a decree recognizing the independence of the DNR and LNR.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
