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Frank-Walter Steinmeier (on March 12th)
Photo: Friso Gentsch/dpa
Anything else would have been a massive surprise: According to his spokeswoman, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier does not want to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election.
"There will be no letter to Putin," said spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin to the "Tagesspiegel" on Sunday evening.
In a statement from the Federal President that she previously distributed on the X platform (formerly Twitter), it said: "Today I am thinking of the people in Russia who are fighting for freedom and democracy and who live in constant danger from Putin's regime.
We won’t forget these brave ones.”
Spokeswoman Gammelin also wrote there about the “so-called presidential elections in Russia.”
The Foreign Office chose a similar formulation on Sunday.
The ministry wrote on
In the most recent election, which was accompanied by allegations of manipulation and protests, the electoral commission awarded Putin a provisional result of almost 87 percent on Sunday evening after counting almost 90 percent of the ballot papers - a record.
Critics pointed out that this was only achieved through repression, coercion and fraud.
All of the Kremlin leader's best-known critics are either dead, imprisoned or in exile.
Another six years in office
Putin is now facing another six-year term at the helm of Russia.
Another term allows Putin to rule until 2030.
Observers expect that over the next six years in office, Putin will not only step up his foreign policy significantly in his war of aggression against Ukraine.
Many Russians fear a new mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reservists.
Domestically, the reprisals in the country could also be significantly intensified in order to stifle the protests of Putin's opponents that were visible on the three election days.
Tax increases have also been announced to finance the high expenditure on the war and social policy projects.
jok/dpa