A planned visit to kyiv by German president frank-walter steinmeier was not welcomed by Ukraine ,he said on Tuesday, following a report that president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was critical of Steinmeier's historic advocacy of Western rapprochement with Russia.
Steinmeier had planned to visit kyiv with polish counterpart Andrjez Duda and the presidents of Estonia , Lithuania and Latvia “ To send a strong signal of European solidarity with Ukraine there”, he told journalists when he visited Warsaw.
It was not clear whether the other European leaders would visit without steinmeier. Ukrainian authorities could not be reached at that moment for questioning
Bild newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday that Zelenskiy had rejected steinmeier's plans to visit due to his close relationship with Russia in recent years and his years of support for the Nord 2 stream pipeline a project designed to double the flow of Russian gas direct to Germany but which has been cancelled
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a social media backlash tweeting past pictures of steinmeier embracing Russia foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov , the president regretted his earlier stance
he said his years of support of Nord 2 stream pipeline had been a mistake
asked for comment on steinmeier's remarks , a German government spokesperson said, “Germany was...and is one of the most the most determined supporters of Ukraine....and it will stay that way
the spokesman added that the Federal president takes a clear position on the side of Ukraine
Steinmeier, a social Democrat who served as a foreign Minister under chancellor Angela Merkel before being elevated to presideny had known Russian president Vladimir Putin since 2001
A speech that Putin held at Germany's Lower house of Parliament in 2001 , speaking German to lawmakers, gave Steinmeier hope for better relations between Moscow and Berlin, he told speigel magazines in an interview published on Tuesday
“That Putin of year 2001 has nothing in common with Putin of 2022, who we are now experiencing as brutal , entrenched warmonger”, Steinmeie said.
