When Olaf Scholz calls Vladimir Putin, he wants the Russian ruler to get an unvarnished picture of the disaster he caused with his war against Ukraine. Scholz, it is said, then tells Putin that with every further day of the armed conflict he is getting entangled in an increasingly hopeless situation. In consultation with the Ukrainian side, the Chancellor would then also discuss specific matters, such as setting up escape corridors from Mariupol, which was besieged and destroyed by the Russian army. Food is now becoming scarce there.
Scholz is also said to have spoken to the Russian warlord about political goals, such as neutrality in Ukraine. Putin is said to have avoided lying to the Chancellor outright. But it is just as clear that Scholz does not rely on the impression that his Russian counterpart is trying to make.
The telephone calls with the man who destroyed the post-war order in Europe with his armed conflict take up only a small part of the chancellor’s working hours. Since taking office almost four months ago, Scholz has been preoccupied with the war. The first was to prevent Russia’s aggression. As head of government, Scholz has been confronted with a real, brutal war with thousands of deaths and millions of refugees for almost six weeks. It is the seriousness of the decisions he makes that gives his chancellorship a special meaning even in the first few months. In his eyes, Scholz makes it clear again and again, it is about nothing less than the question of whether Germany will be drawn into an armed conflict that would most likely lead to a third world war with nuclear weapons.
Visit to the Bundeswehr Operations Command in the forest of remembrance: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (front left) looks serious.
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Image: dpa
The war in Ukraine has determined the chancellor’s everyday life for weeks. Countless phone calls are about how the West will deal with the aggressor. It’s often five-way talks with the political leaders of the US, UK and Italy: Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Mario Draghi; EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also usually there. In addition, every sanctions list must be coordinated, every negotiator must feedback to the chancellor. Incidentally, Scholz has to keep his coalition on course, and ultimately his party, the SPD.
Much of this happens without the public noticing. Scholz doesn’t want that either. He is being criticized for that these days. Why doesn’t he explain his actions and his plans? Why does he show little public empathy for the suffering people in Ukraine? Why is he acting so self-assured, even know-it-all? Scholz does not appear infrequently. He speaks in the Bundestag, gives interviews, has been a guest on several talk shows, and given the shortness of his tenure, certainly more often than his predecessor, Angela Merkel, thought necessary. Although he has many appearances, he has made little appearance. Recently he presented himself on “Anne Will” as someone who had always thought through and prepared everything.