la repubblica: Is Germany preparing a new plan?
After German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed that it’s time to establish peace between Russia and Ukraine, a new plan he is preparing has surfaced.
Informed sources reported that Scholz is preparing a peace plan for Ukraine based on the Minsk agreements.
The plan doesn’t rule out the transfer of Ukrainian territory to Russia, according to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
According to the Italian newspaper, the German Chancellor, after a series of failures in regional and European elections, is seeking to play the Ukrainian card in order to strengthen his positions.
Scholz considered, Sunday, that the time has come to intensify diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine more quickly, and end the war that has been ongoing for two and a half years between Moscow and Kiev.
“I think it’s now time to look for ways to get out of the war situation and establish peace more quickly,” he added in an annual interview he gives during the summer with the German public broadcaster ZDF.
In addition, he believed that Russia should participate in a possible upcoming international summit for peace in Ukraine, after it was excluded from a similar meeting this year.
The comments came after the far-right Alternative for Germany and the PSV parties won local elections in two eastern states last week, while Scholz’s coalition suffered a setback. Both parties are demanding an end to German military support for Ukraine.
Scholz’s call also came at a time when he is facing increasing internal pressure, accompanied by indications that the country’s broad support for Kiev since the war began in February 2022 is beginning to see discontent.
Especially since Berlin is the second largest contributor of military aid to Kiev after Washington, and Scholz’s government has repeatedly pledged to continue this support as long as necessary.
It’s noteworthy that leaders and officials from more than 90 countries participated in a meeting hosted by Switzerland in June, which was considered the first on peace in Ukraine, on the other hand, Russia wasn’t invited to attend.
On this regard, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed last Thursday his readiness to hold negotiations with Kiev on the basis of the talks held in the spring of 2022, after Moscow had ruled out any discussion against the backdrop of the Ukrainian attack that began in early August in the Russian border region of Kursk.
The Kremlin has previously indicated that any peace deal with Ukraine must include the latter giving up territory claimed by Moscow, which Kiev considers unacceptable.
