It's a sunny day in the Russian capital, there's snow, the temperature is around minus 1, mild for the local winter.

One could almost forget that the visit of the German Federal Chancellor is about nothing less than war and peace.

But the confrontation that prevails between Russia and the West can be felt even on a mundane issue.

The participants of the delegation, who came with the government plane from Berlin, have to go through the PCR test after landing, those who get access to the Kremlin have to go through it there.

The Russian side demanded that all travelers had to take three PCR tests in Germany in the past few days in order to start the journey at all, and Olaf Scholz also did them.

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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But the chancellor refuses to do the Russian PCR test.

He does such a test after landing on board the plane, the German doctor from the Moscow embassy comes on the plane in blue protective clothing and does the test.

The equipment to evaluate it is also on board the A-340.

Scholz could avoid having to sit many meters away from Russian President Vladimir Putin at the long table, it was said before the conversation.

Preparation with Macron and Merkel

This is what happened to French President Emmanuel Macron when he was recently in the Kremlin and rejected the Russian PCR test.

Scholz also spoke to Macron about this question.

The rejection of a Russian test for the chancellor is less about the Russian side receiving the chancellor's DNA and more about preserving his independence, it said.

Scholz has prepared well for the one-on-one meeting with Putin, in which only the interpreters take part.

He has familiarized himself with the details of contracts, has spoken with German and international Russia experts, analog and virtual.

The Chancellor also spoke about Putin with his predecessor Angela Merkel a few weeks ago. After all, she knows the Russian particularly well after numerous meetings over the past two decades, at least better than most other Western politicians.

Scholz does not assume that Putin will give in after the talks and immediately withdraw his armed forces from the borders of Ukraine.

But it is said that the first step is to stop the escalation.

The day before, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had told Putin in front of the cameras that negotiations should continue.

But people in Berlin are unsure how seriously this should be taken.

Scholz now has at least promises from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj that Kiev wants to advance the Minsk process with several legislative proposals.

Concessions from Kiev

Scholz had a long private talk with Selenskyj in the Ukrainian capital on Monday and demanded his willingness to finally lay all the foundations to get the Minsk process moving again.

Some of the draft bills are available or are due to be presented soon and brought through the Rada.

These include regulations on the local elections in Donbass and the autonomy status of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which are now controlled by separatists.

This can be seen as a step towards Moscow.

Whether and how Putin will react is uncertain.

After the meeting in the Kremlin, Scholz wants to meet representatives of Russian civil society, including those from the human rights organization Memorial, at the residence of the German ambassador in Moscow.

Some of the memorial organizations dedicated to human rights violations and dealing with Stalinist terror were recently banned.

Several members have to reckon with criminal consequences up to imprisonment.

Many members of the opposition are currently emigrating from Russia because the pressure on them is constantly increasing.

At the end of his trip, the Chancellor wants to inform the ambassadors of the EU states in the Moscow EU representation about his talks with Putin.