German foreign minister: Negotiations with Russia not an option now

Berlin, July 13, (dpa/GNA) - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock doesn’t see negotiations with Russia as an option four and a half months into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“What can you negotiate about with someone who is not even ready to agree with the International Committee of the Red Cross to let civilians flee?” she said in an interview with the German magazine Stern.

Baerbock also rejected calls from a group of high-profile Germans in a recent open letter for an immediate ceasefire and talks.

“If I were a Ukrainian, I would find that letter naive, disturbing and arrogant,” she said.

“What right does the German foreign minister have to decide for Ukraine which part of their country they should please give up, how many millions of their citizens to submit to Russian rule?”

Baerbock said she has not had any direct contact with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov since the war began.

She said she wished she could say to him: “Come on, Sergei, let’s talk about peace.”

However, she cast doubt on how much power Lavrov now has from the country’s leadership.

“What kind of role the Russian foreign minister plays at all in this is questionable,” she said.

Lavrov and Baerbock both attended the G20 foreign ministers’ conference in Bali last week. Lavrov left directly after his speech without hearing Baerbock’s response.

GNA

German foreign minister: Negotiations with Russia not an option now

Berlin, July 13, (dpa/GNA) - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock doesn’t see negotiations with Russia as an option four and a half months into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“What can you negotiate about with someone who is not even ready to agree with the International Committee of the Red Cross to let civilians flee?” she said in an interview with the German magazine Stern.

Baerbock also rejected calls from a group of high-profile Germans in a recent open letter for an immediate ceasefire and talks.

“If I were a Ukrainian, I would find that letter naive, disturbing and arrogant,” she said.

“What right does the German foreign minister have to decide for Ukraine which part of their country they should please give up, how many millions of their citizens to submit to Russian rule?”

Baerbock said she has not had any direct contact with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov since the war began.

She said she wished she could say to him: “Come on, Sergei, let’s talk about peace.”

However, she cast doubt on how much power Lavrov now has from the country’s leadership.

“What kind of role the Russian foreign minister plays at all in this is questionable,” she said.

Lavrov and Baerbock both attended the G20 foreign ministers’ conference in Bali last week. Lavrov left directly after his speech without hearing Baerbock’s response.

GNA