German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addresses the media during a press conference following a special meeting of the German cabinet at the Schloss Meseberg government guest house in Meseberg, Gransee, Germany, May 4, 2022. REUTERS / Michele Tantussi
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BERLIN, May 4 (Reuters) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Ukraine on Wednesday to help unblock an embarrassing diplomatic stalemate after the German president was suspended from visiting Kyiv over concerns about his support in the past for rapprochement with Russia.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany called Scholz an “insulting liver” for refusing to visit the country before President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was welcomed there.
“A problem for the German government and for the German people is that the president has been asked not to come,” Scholz told reporters after talks with his cabinet.
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“Ukraine also has a role to play,” he said, without elaborating on how.
The dispute turned an awkward turn in relations at a time when Germany’s opposition to the Russian invasion was crucial for Ukraine, given its weight in the European Union and the bloc’s discussions on sanctions against Moscow.
Steinmeier planned to visit the Ukrainian capital in April, but the trip was canceled, sparking a scandal in Germany where politicians sought to reverse Wandel durch Handel’s long-held approach to trade with Russia.
Steinmeier, a member of Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), has long considered himself a supporter of reconciliation with Moscow, but has since admitted he made mistakes.
Earlier, German media reported that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky refused to meet Steinmeier in Kyiv because of his long-standing support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Russia with Germany, which was canceled days before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24. .
Stressing the government’s delay in sending someone to Ukraine, Germany’s main opposition leader, Friedrich Merz of the Conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), visited the war-torn country on Tuesday.
Scholz said he was in contact with his political rival over a trip during which Merz toured the bombed city of Irpin before heading to nearby Kyiv for talks with Zelensky.
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Report by Rachel Moore; Edited by Miranda Murray and Hugh Lawson
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