Moscow partly agrees with Schröder: Kremlin is "quite ready to negotiate"

Gerhard Schröder is convinced that the war in Ukraine will end at the negotiating table.

Moscow partly agrees with Schröder: Kremlin is "quite ready to negotiate"

Gerhard Schröder is convinced that the war in Ukraine will end at the negotiating table. In the opinion of the former chancellor, this has so far failed because of a reluctant Europe. Kremlin spokesman Peskov confirms Russia's willingness to negotiate, but ties it to a maximum demand.

The Russian government has confirmed that it is interested in a negotiated solution with Ukraine, as claimed by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder - but only on its own terms. Russia is "quite ready" for a diplomatic settlement of the "problem," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov when asked in Moscow, as reported by the Russian newspaper Kommersant, among others. However, Moscow will only sign an agreement on its own terms, he said.

After his visit to the Russian capital and a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Schröder had previously stated in an interview with "Stern" and RTL/ntv that the war in Ukraine "could not be ended without talks". "The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution," he said. The 78-year-old former chancellor located the problem in Europe: Germany and the federal government, but also France, have a special responsibility. His impression, however, is that not enough is happening at the moment.

The German government, among others, harbors considerable doubts about Schröder's assumption that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be seriously interested in a negotiated solution acceptable to both sides. Officially, the Kremlin chief has been offering peace negotiations on his own terms for weeks. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reject this agreement, known as a "dictated peace". Among other things, because this type of ceasefire would not be conveyable to the Ukrainian population.

Furthermore, historians and Russia experts are convinced that a ceasefire would only be a tactical one for the Kremlin. Russia would use the time to regroup and regenerate its troops, military expert Carlo Masala from the Bundeswehr University recently explained in the “Stern” podcast “Ukraine – The Situation”. "The long-term goal would not have been given up. That means we have to expect that 2022 is the prelude to a new attack in a few years. Just like 2014 was the prelude to 2022."

Statements by former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev fit this description. In a Telegram post that has since been deleted, he described Tuesday's attack on Ukraine as the first step in restoring the Soviet Union and the Russian Tsarist Empire. He named the former Soviet states of Georgia and Kazakhstan as targets for further campaigns after Ukraine.