Left-wing German MP Sahra Wagenknecht has called on the West to stop sending weapons to Ukraine and negotiate with Russia instead.
The member of the lower chamber of the Bundestag, formerly of the Die Linke (The Left) party, shared her views during an interview with Welt TV.
“I think Russia has shown to a certain extent over the past few years that negotiations are possible," Wagenknecht said. "For example, there were negotiations in Istanbul, there is an exchange of prisoners on a regular basis.”
The MP argued that Western arms supplies to Kiev would only prolong the Ukrainian conflict. She also criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz' refusal to hold talks with Moscow and called for kick-starting bilateral cooperation between the two nations.
Scholz has reiterated his opposition to sending long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine after secret discussions between the top Bundeswehr officers was leaked to the media — in which they discussed plans to attack Russia's Kerch bridge to the Crimean peninsula with the weapons, possibly mounted on French fighter jets.
Amid the ensuing political scandal, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron proposed to his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock that the UK would send more Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine if Germany sent the longer-range Taurus to Britain.
Baerbock came out in favour of that swap, claiming that “the exchange is a German [idea]. That would be an option. And we’ve already done it with other equipment some time ago.”
But German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit refuted Baerbock’s comments, stating that Berlin has not shifted its stance on the issue and hinting at discord between the FM and the Chancellor.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the leaked audio of the German generals raised concerns about how much control Scholz has over his country's armed forces.