Bruised Berlin: Steinmeier is not the only one standing in front of a mountain of shards

Steinmeier is undesirable?

Zelenskyy welcomes the presidents of Poland and the Baltic republics, but not the head of state of Germany?

It sounded so unbelievable that some people took the news for fake news when it hit Berlin.

Certainly to Moscow's great delight, Kyiv snubbed the Federal President in a way that had never happened to him or his predecessors.

The Ukrainian president could not have come up with a heavier caliber, at least not against a friendly country.

Zelenskyy is even ready to meet with Putin.

Kyiv made no official statement about the affront.

However, the extremely undiplomatic accusations by the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Melnyk, made it clear that Kyiv does not forgive Steinmeier for his pro-Russian course as foreign minister - and moreover suspects him of using a "spider web" he has woven to continue to have influence to take: The relationship with Russia is something "sacred" for Steinmeier, no matter what happens, according to Melnyk.

As you can now see, this is apparently not just the opinion of an ambassador who has gotten out of control.

From the Ukrainian point of view, the fact that the Scholz government proved to be hesitant in supplying weapons fits into the image of a Federal President who is still pulling the strings from Bellevue.

If Steinmeier were really the dark lord of German Russophilia, it would not have been a good idea to offend him in this way.

But that is a conspiracy theory that has nothing to do with the political reality in Berlin.

Kyiv itself refuted them by announcing that they would rather speak to the Chancellor, because only he could make meaningful commitments.

Not only one private person was snubbed

Zelenskyy will now have to wait a while for the chancellor's desired visit.

Scholz must first express his solidarity with the Federal President.

Not only was a private individual with a dormant SPD membership disavowed, but the highest representative of the Federal Republic of Germany.

And a representative of a policy that, until Putin's attack on Ukraine, was supported by large parts of Germany's political and economic elite, including the former mayor of Hamburg and later finance minister Scholz.

As chancellor, he is facing a mountain of foreign policy shambles.

As von Steinmeier publicly admitted, German Russia policy over the past few decades has failed.

But relations with the allies in the East also suffered from the fact that Berlin showed understanding for Russia's "legitimate" security interests even after they could no longer be regarded as legitimate.

Steinmeier's invitation was excessive and a gift for the Kremlin.

But the shrill reaction should make Berlin realize how little people trust Germany in Eastern Europe when it comes to its “sacred” relationship with Russia.

Schröder pledged his soul to Putin

Nobody can be surprised about that.

In East-Central Europe, people were appalled at how unhesitatingly Germany had made itself dependent on Russian energy supplies for decades - against all warnings from those who knew from their own experience that contracts with the Kremlin were pacts with the devil.

But the then Chancellor Schröder not only launched Nord Stream 1, but also pledged his soul to Putin even after his term in office.

To this day he has not sworn off it.

Merkel continued Schröder's Ostpolitik and gave her blessing to the construction of Nord Stream 2 even after the annexation of Crimea.

Scholz, too, first spoke of a purely "private-sector" project - at a time when Putin had long been preparing himself and his country for the war in Ukraine.

In view of these longstanding and cross-party mistakes, the federal government will not find it easy to convince its allies of the new turning point realism.

At home and abroad, Berlin, Ukraine's largest donor, has been criticized for not reacting radically enough to Putin's war.

However, not only Germany has made itself dependent on cheap Russian energy.

Nor is it the only western country that has not yet sent main battle tanks to Ukraine.

But the debate shows how important Germany is in the fight with Putin.

Zelenskyy and his advisors shouldn't have forgotten that either, despite, but also because of the existential danger they are exposed to.

The enemy of Ukraine is in Moscow, not in Berlin.