“Even if, for understandable reasons, there is no longer any confidence in the current Russian leadership, diplomatic negotiations must still take place, so the next telephone conversation between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin is correct and necessary, and diplomatic initiatives must be taken. wherever possible” – write in the SPD document. “We must continue to make every effort to persuade Russia to withdraw (from the conflict).” – added the SPD politician.

The 9 page document is entitled “Social democratic international politics in changing times” pointed out that negotiations with Russia were successful in “small sub-areas”, for example on the issue of grain exports via the Black Sea. Therefore, further negotiation efforts must also pay attention to the military and weapons sectors.

As the daily website “Welt” emphasizes, the Ukrainian authorities are skeptical of diplomatic initiatives and see no point in negotiating with Russia until all agreements are reached. soldier will not be withdrawn from Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

The authors of the document “over the long term” envision rebuilding trust in Russia, and that would be “a fundamental end to Russia’s criminal aggression against Ukraine and the expansionist ideology behind it.” Diplomatic steps and a “policy of small steps” will be effective in this regard.

The SPD’s policy towards Russia even before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine has come under sharp criticism in recent months. “The SPD election program for 2021 still contains the sentence: Peace in Europe cannot exist against Russia, but only with Russia,” reminded Welt.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil admitted in October that his party had made mistakes in its policy towards Russia over the past decades. “Today is about organizing protection against Russia, which has abandoned the system of shared security and the system of shared values,” Klingbeil said.

The new SPD draft position recognizes that Russia is behaving aggressively, but will remain a large country with significant military power on the European continent. “This is important for designing Europe’s long-term security architecture,” the SPD said in the document. “The parliamentary group is of the opinion that the draft position has been approved by the party leadership,” Welt learned.

On Wednesday evening, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk reacted. “War is almost always decided on the battlefield. Germany should know this well,” wrote the former ambassador to Berlin on Twitter. (PAP)

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