German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for a trial of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov before the International Criminal Court. “Anyone responsible for these crimes will have to answer for themselves,” he said in an interview. In addition to soldiers and their commanders, these were also politically responsible.
Steinmeier further told the news magazine “Spiegel” that he is also considering a trip to Kiev. “I have hardly been to a capital other than Kiev,” said the German president, referring to his role as foreign minister after the fall of the pro-Russian leadership in Ukraine in early 2014. Steinmeier is considered a of the main architects of the “Minsk process”, which should lead to a solution to the conflict after the first Russian aggression against the neighboring country.
“Probably no other country in my political life has occupied me as much as Ukraine. During the German EU Council presidency in 2007, I started negotiations for an EU association agreement with the Ukrainian side and then had to experience how Russia wanted to destroy it in the following years,” Steinmeier continues in the interview.
Steinmeier admits mistakes
Steinmeier has only recently openly admitted that as German foreign minister at the time (2005-2009 and 2013-2017), he was “wrong” in his Russia policy. “My sticking to Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake. We clung to bridges that Russia no longer believed in and that our partners warned us about,” he said Monday.
His assessment was that Putin “would not accept the complete economic, political and moral ruin of his country for his imperial madness”. “I was wrong, like others,” said the Social Democratic politician. With a Russia under Putin, there will be “no return to the status quo before the war”, stressed the former close associate of German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who still does not want to publicly distance himself from the Russian ruler and therefore faced with a batch removal process.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
