Is everything in order? Parliamentary group leader Mützenich and Chancellor Scholz (Berlin, 12 September 2024)
The Ukrainian embassy is once again criticizing the timid considerations of individual German politicians trying to find a way to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine. In particular, the plan of Rolf Mützenich, the leader of the SPD parliamentary group, has drawn the ire of the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Olexij Makejew. Mützenich met at the weekend Lineish Post He called for the creation of an international contact group to begin a peace plan in the Ukraine war. “To get closer to real peace, we need not a ‘contact group’ but the next peace conference, inviting all the countries of the world to work for a just peace,” Makeev said. Editing Network Germany (Monday edition). “If we are going to strike back for peace and force Russia to make peace diplomatically, we need allies, not mediators,” Makeev said.
The only way to a just and lasting peace is the 10-point plan put forward by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But this “peace plan” actually presupposes a complete military defeat of Russia. This includes, among other things, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Crimea, annexed in 2014, and the payment of Russian reparations.
Mützenich also mentioned Zelenskiy along with his developments. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the Ukrainian president explained that they agreed that “now is a good time to step up efforts for peace talks and that Russia should also participate in the next peace summit.” This also opens up the opportunity for other countries to become more committed to ending hostilities. “I think it is time for the Western allies to start a contact group to start the process,” the SPD politician said.
Asked about possible members of such a contact group, Mützenich said he sees countries such as China, India, Turkey and Brazil as responsible. In these countries, there is a growing conviction that “a war of aggression by Russia could be a burden.” Therefore, the work of the contact group could be “very promising” and play an important mediating role.
Scholz has actually said he supports stronger diplomatic efforts to end the recent war in Ukraine. He confirmed this plan during a Q&A session with citizens of Prenzlau, Brandenburg. “It is also time to find out what is happening,” he said. The basis for a peace solution, the chancellor added, is “Putin realizing that he cannot eat up all of Ukraine.” Scholz is also urging Russia to attend the follow-up to the “peace conference” in Switzerland in June. Russia was not invited to the Lucerne conference, and Moscow’s most important ally, China, has also withdrawn.
But it was not just Mützenich who drew the Ukrainian ambassador’s ire, but also SPD member of the Bundestag Ralf Stegner and BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht who had also been stripped of their fat. Makeev accused Stegner of wanting to speak at a peace demonstration scheduled for October 3 in Berlin. Wagenknecht is also scheduled to appear on stage at a rally organized by various peace movement actors.
“The fact that a Democrat joins Wagenknecht’s chamber of horrors after visiting Ukraine requires special mental gymnastics,” Makeev said. The German debate is filled with “self-proclaimed peace activists who have no idea about Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” the diplomat said. Wagenknecht is among them. “Since 2022, they have demanded nothing but the legalization of the Russian occupation under the pretext of ‘peace,’” the diplomat said. But occupation is not peace.
Wagenknecht wants to extradite Ukraine and its inhabitants, “sell them houses that are not theirs and hand over the inhabitants to violence.” With her “brokerage work for Moscow,” she is ultimately harming the entire European home. The BSW boss wants to “rip apart” the European security architecture according to the Kremlin’s instructions. The ambassador said it was a shame that Wagenknecht’s rhetoric was now echoing in other parties, referring to Stegner.
