Steinmeier, who is on a state visit to Warsaw, said his Polish counterpart Andrei Duda recently suggested that the two travel to Kyiv with the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia “to send a strong message to Europe. Ukraine “. . “I was prepared [to do that]”But obviously, and I have to take that into account, it was not desirable in Kyiv.” Steinmeier has come under fire in recent days for his closeness to Russia, a country he once described as a “necessary partner.” He spoke after the Bild Zeitung newspaper quoted Ukrainian officials as saying that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would refuse to meet with Steinmeier if he came to Kyiv. While serving as Germany’s foreign minister, Steinmeier had strong ties to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. He was also seen as a strong supporter of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was designed to bring Russian gas directly to Germany, bypassing Ukraine, and which was suspended in February. “We know all of Steinmeier’s close relations with Russia,” the Ukrainian diplomat was quoted as saying by Bild. “He is not welcome in Kyiv at the moment. “We will see if that changes in the future.” Steinmeier has in the past admitted mistakes in his Russian policy. “Staying with Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake,” he said. “We are stuck on bridges that Russia no longer believed in and that our partners warned us about.” Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, had accused Steinmeier of “opening a network of contacts with Russia.” He accused the German president of sharing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rejection of Ukrainian nationality.
