President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier wants to visit Kyiv, but the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not want to see him.
This was reported by the German newspaper Bild on Tuesday, April 12, informs “European Truth”.
According to the publication from Ukrainian government circles, Steinmeier wanted to visit Ukraine and come to Kyiv together with government delegations from other EU countries on Wednesday, April 13. However, at the moment, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seems unwilling to meet him in Kyiv because of the German politician's close ties with russia in the past.
“We all know about Steinmeier's close ties with russia, which were also marked by the “Steinmeier formula”. Now he is not welcome in Kyiv. Let's see if that changes,” - a Ukrainian diplomat in Kyiv told the publication.
According to Bild, there was a clear statement from Kyiv to the office of the German president that they were not ready for any meetings at the moment. However, the possibility of a meeting in the future cannot be ruled out, Kyiv authorities said.
Steinmeier is on a visit to Poland today, where he met, among others, with President of Poland Andrzej Duda. The main topic of the visit is russia's war against Ukraine. From Poland, Steinmeier could head to Ukraine.
As a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Steinmeier has maintained close contacts, particularly with russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Steinmeier has also been a strong supporter of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and is considered the architect of the federal government's russia-friendly policy. A week ago, however, the German president admitted that the policy of the past few years toward russia had been wrong.