Roderich Kiesewetter, defense policy spokesman for the CDU, said Chancellor Olaf Scholz could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the federal election on February 23.

“There are increasing signs that Chancellor Scholz will travel to Moscow and meet Putin before February 23rd,” said Kiesewetter on to 20 mean.” How the Ukrainian population or our neighbors react to all this will be revealing.”

Kiesewetter criticized the possible meeting and warned: “Ukraine must be neither an object nor a victim. Russia is up to its neck economically and socially, but Ukraine, which is doing much worse, should be accommodated – not Russia!” He also warned that any negotiations at this point “are at the expense of Ukraine and de facto mean submission”.

In his election campaign, Scholz positioned himself as a “peace chancellor” and advocated both support for Ukraine and negotiations with Russia to end the war. However, Kiesewetter took aim at the so-called “Moscow connection” and called for more clarity and determination within the German leadership.

The CDU is currently leading the election polls, with party leader Friedrich Merz widely seen as the leading candidate to become Germany’s next chancellor.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their first telephone conversation in almost two years on November 15, according to a statement from the German government.

In the unannounced, hour-long phone call, Scholz condemned the Russian war in Ukraine and called on Putin to withdraw troops and seek a “just and lasting peace” through negotiations. Scholz reiterated Germany’s “unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression for as long as necessary.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on November 15 that Scholz’s call with Putin opened a “Pandora’s box,” potentially leading to “other conversations and other calls.”