Never called Zelensky

Steinmeier's people tried to reach out to the Ukrainian government through Warsaw and Lithuania to see if the President of Germany would be received in Kyiv with other heads of state. They asked their Polish and Lithuanian colleagues about this. There were no official requests to the Ukrainian authorities. Steinmeier himself took such a step because his presidency became unstable due to a series of journalistic investigations into his close relationship with the Kremlin.

The statement of President Zelensky also confirmed this information. He noted, “I, as president, and our office have not officially received a request from the President of Germany and the Office of the President of Germany regarding a visit to Ukraine. Our country is free and we are ready to be a transit state if these are economic issues, not political ones.”

Perhaps Robert Habeck, Germany's economics minister, should ask his president Steinmeier why, in 50 days of war, he never called Zelensky, the head of a warring state that is now protecting the whole of Europe from the chaos of global confrontation.

Instead, he said that disinviting the president means "disinviting Germany."

In general, such statements by the German elite are rather strange, given that they play exclusively into the hands of Moscow.

Obviously, the unfolding crisis will provide at least some opportunity to the current government of Germany, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), to justify blocking military aid to Ukraine, flirting with the aggressor during a major war in Europe, trying to maintain Russia's economic and energy influence on the continent.

The Schröder connection

This situation is understandable given who Frank-Walter Steinmeier is, what role he played in promoting the Kremlin's economic interests in Germany and in Europe in general, how he tried to politically and legally justify Russia's aggressive actions. Let us talk about it.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier is the man of Russia's main lobbyist in Germany, ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder — a politician who achieved the construction of two Nord Streams, ensured that German officials, like himself, became heads of Russian corporations and that Russian capital penetrated Germany, leading to the corruption of Germany.

Schröder's SPD, which includes Steinmeier, Chancellor Scholz, many current and former ministers of the country, has always been the structure that promoted the interests of Putin and his oligarchs.

Steinmeier is the man of Russia's main lobbyist in Germany, ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder

As a correspondent of left-wing radical newspapers in the Soviet-occupied GDR, Steinmeier moved up the career ladder very quickly. In 1993, he became the head of the Personal Office for the prime minister of Lower Saxony, who at that time was Schröder himself. Later there was an insane success: from coordinating the activities of all German intelligence services to the head of the chancellor's office (again Schröder).

When Merkel came to power, Steinmeier was given the post of foreign minister. He became the guarantor that Schröder's policy towards Moscow would remain unchanged. Since then and to this day, the people appointed to their posts by Schröder and Steinmeier have closely monitored the entire foreign pro-Russian policy of Germany.

Aligned with Moscow

There are many negative moments connected with Steinmeier both for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe.

In 2007, Putin delivered his "Munich speech", which laid the basis for his aggressive, expansionist policy in Europe and for the anti-American movement. Steinmeier did not say a word of criticism then, and his party leader Kurt Beck even thanked Putin for his courage and keenness of mind.

In April 2008, at the NATO Summit in Bucharest, Ukraine and Georgia were one step away from the Membership Action Plan. Germany, led by Merkel, opposed. Steinmeier formed this view in favor of Russia. He said that there were no grounds for the integration of the two states.

Two and a half months later, Georgia began to prepare for a big war with Russia. Moscow was conducting military exercises in the Caucasus, creating provocations in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Steinmeier flew to Tbilisi to force Saakashvili to accept a peace plan that would give Abkhazia a special status and force Georgians to financially hold the separate territories. All this was to be approved by the leadership of the Russian Federation.

After this war, Steinmeier continued to bring German business to Moscow, being the ideologist of the Partnership for Modernization program. He convinced the political class of Germany that Russia would change politically if money was invested in it. Its main symbol was the construction of two Nord Streams.

Let's recall 2014 — the final stage of the Revolution of Dignity. Steinmeier, who at that moment was again German Foreign Minister, arrived in Kyiv to negotiate an agreement on the settlement of the political crisis in Ukraine. In fact, this document provided for one simple thing: the destruction of the revolution and the guarantee that Moscow would continue to rule our country.

After 2014, the occupation of Crimea and Donbas. Merkel criticized Russia and tried to create a situation that could keep Putin from taking over all of Ukraine. Her coalition partners, the SPD, led by Steinmeier, launched an active information campaign against her. As a former head of the SPD and then head of the German-Russian Forum, Matthias Platzeck advocated the recognition of Crimea as Russian. Steinmeier and his colleague, Minister Sigmar Gabriel, went to Moscow to negotiate with Putin on rapprochement between Ukraine and Russia. But, actually, they were seeking to protect Russian money from sanctions.

Steinmeier has always criticized Russia's seizure of Crimea. But after Czech President Miloš Zeman suggested that Europe should to allow Russia to buy Crimea, Steinmeier told the Russian edition of Kommersant that Europe could work out a solution to lift the Crimean package of sanctions against Russia.

I think it makes no sense to say that the current president of Germany did not want to come to Kyiv during the inaugural summit of the "Crimea Platform" (which Ukraine planned to turn into the center for the development and adoption of international decisions on the deoccupation of Crimea) in the summer of 2021.

A “formula” for Donbas

One of the greatest achievements of the President of Germany is the “Steinmeier formula” for Donbas.

In fact, there was never any formula; there was only a letter with a proposal from Steinmeier, who was then German Foreign Minister, and his French colleague Laurent Fabius, to incorporate Donbas into Ukraine. Of course, the proposal was for this to be carried out under Russian rules: first a special status, then elections, full autonomy of the region, and only then the gradual withdrawal of Russian troops. Obviously, this scenario assumed the political collapse of Ukraine and its gradual return under Russian control.

Ukraine, under pressure from Merkel, agreed on this formula in Paris in December 2019 in exchange for the transit of Russian gas. However, this "formula" was never implemented, as Kyiv did not give up its position.

Even when a large-scale war with Russia began on February 24, Steinmeier staged a disgraceful pro-Russian event. He organized a charity concert in solidarity with Ukraine at the Berlin Philharmonic, where Russian and Belarusian musicians played. He invited our ambassador to Germany there. It was a mockery of Ukrainians.

His successor was afraid to destroy bridges between Berlin and Moscow

Over the years, Steinmeier has placed his followers, and therefore the followers and ideas of rapprochement with Russia, in key positions in Germany. Foreign Minister Gabriel advocated the lifting of economic sanctions for Crimea and economic rapprochement with Russia.

His successor, Heiko Maas, was afraid to destroy the bridges between Berlin and Moscow. Pro-Russian officials from the Steinmeier’s cohort, State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andreas Michaelis and Jens Plötner, foreign policy advisor to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, continue to lead key areas of Germany's foreign and security policy at the Foreign Ministry and the Federal Chancellery.

And Steinmeier himself is a continuation of the policies of Schröder, Putin's main lobbyist. Proof of this are the refusal of the socialist Scholz to provide Ukraine with necessary weapons, as well as the words of the head of the German Ministry of Defense Christine Lambrecht (also SPD) that her nation has run out of weapons for our nation, and much more. All this is the political legacy of Schröder-Steinmeier. In fact, this is the legacy of Russia. Because both Schröder and Steinmeier ... are Russia.