Frank-Walter Steinmeier linked the history of WWII and the current relationship between Germany and Russia by talking about Nord Stream-2.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rejected the criticism of the Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany Andriy Melnik in the light of the statements of the head of state about the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. Official Berlin met accusations of distorting history with “complete misunderstanding,” the German president’s office said.
“The text of the interview speaks for itself”, – Steinmeier said.
We are talking about the interview of the President of Germany to the Rheinische Post, which drew criticism from the Ukrainian diplomat. Steinmeier, in an interview, called relations in the energy field “almost the last bridge between Russia and Europe” after years of deterioration in ties between Berlin and Moscow. Among other things, he recalled the Nazi Germany attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941.
The Ukrainian ambassador accused the German president of presenting “dubious historical arguments” and “dangerous distortion of history”, noting that Steinmeier did not separately mention the millions of victims in Ukraine, then part of the USSR. Kiev reacted to Steinmeier’s words “with surprise and indignation”, Melnik said. According to him, the statements of the head of the Federal Republic “deeply wounded the Ukrainians”.
Miller called for the creation in Berlin of a separate memorial to the Ukrainians who became victims of the Nazis. And Nord Stream-2 is a geopolitical project of Russian President Vladimir Putin and runs counter to the interests of Kiev, the diplomat recalled.