The German government has denied that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the federal election, and has sharply rejected a claim by CDU security expert Roderich Kiesewetter.
“That’s already a nasty rumor, what the MP Kiesewetter is doing there” said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”. There are no considerations for such a trip, and it would not make any sense anyway. The rumor spread over the social network X/Twitter is “freely invented and malicious”. The government will also take legal action against it: “Legal steps are being prepared at the moment.”
Kiesewetter had posted on X/Twitter on Saturday: “The indications are getting stronger that Chancellor Scholz will travel to Moscow or meet with Putin before February 23rd.” This could be an “election surprise.” Additionally, Kiesewetter wrote that a meeting between Putin and the new US President Donald Trump is allegedly planned for March.