During an event marking the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, held at the presidential residence, Bellevue Palace, Martin sharply criticized Steinmeier for calling NATO exercises "sabre-rattling" as foreign minister and for viewing the Nord Stream pipeline as a potential "bridge" between Europe and Russia while president in 2022.
"The federal president fiercely attacked me, hardly allowing to calm himself down. He angrily accused me several times of slandering him," Martin told German newspaper Bild on Friday.
Other attendees told the newspaper that Steinmeier seemed to be struggling to control his emotions during Martin's speech. Eventually, the president lost his temper and yelled at Martin, saying that such "intellectuals" have no idea how difficult a politician's work is, the writer said.
The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Europe, were hit by explosions on September 26, 2022. Germany, Denmark and Sweden have not ruled out deliberate sabotage. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has opened an investigation into it as an act of international terrorism. Russia has repeatedly requested data on other countries' investigations into the explosions, but never received it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.