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Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) during his visit to Warsaw

Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) has distanced himself from the statements made by SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich about the war in Ukraine.

Freezing the conflict "would only help Putin in the end," said the SPD politician during a visit to the Polish capital Warsaw.

It must always be about bringing about peace, "but there must not be a dictated peace," nor a "ceasefire or a freeze in which Putin emerges stronger in the end and continues the conflict whenever he pleases."

Pistorius made the comments at a joint press conference with Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz in Warsaw.

During a Bundestag debate about the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine last Thursday, Mützenich asked: "Isn't it time that we not only talk about how to wage a war, but also think about how to wage a war Freeze it and end it later?" The statement brought Mützenich sharp criticism from the ranks of the SPD coalition partners the Greens and FDP.

Now, with Pistorius, there is even headwind from within his own party.

The Polish minister also criticized Mützenich's move.

"This is not an idea that should be considered." In fact, it is "dangerous."

Kosiniak-Kamysz emphasized that the fate of Europe will also be decided in Ukraine.

Schröder supports Mützenich

However, Mützenich received support from former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD).

»It seems to me that the SPD parliamentary group leader, Mr. Rolf Mützenich, is on the right track.

His position should be supported by the party and parliamentary group,” demanded the 79-year-old.

Schröder has been friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he was chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and continues to work for the majority Russian companies on the Nord Stream pipelines through the Baltic Sea.

Although he has called the Russian attack on Ukraine a mistake, he maintains his friendship with Putin.

He is therefore excluded from the SPD leadership, but a party expulsion procedure against him failed.

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock clearly rejected Mützenich's demand.

Such a path is currently not an option.

Baerbock said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels that anyone who had read the latest UN report on Russian war crimes in the occupied territories of Ukraine "in my opinion will not talk again about perhaps freezing the conflict." should".

The report reads “like an absolute horror book.”

mgo/dpa/Reuters