They don't want Putin luck | EUROtoday

EIt wasn't a shock: Neither Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier nor Chancellor Olaf Scholz congratulated Vladimir Putin on his re-election as Russian President. “There will be no letter to Putin,” mentioned presidential workplace spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin to the “Tagesspiegel”. In a press release by Steinmeier distributed on Platform Scholz “did not congratulate” Putin. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock additionally didn’t ship any congratulations to Moscow.

Even the omission of the official title makes it clear that Berlin doesn’t think about the election in Russia to be authorized. A spokesman for the Foreign Office mentioned that solely Putin's identify had been used up to now, however not his official title, so nothing would change. “It was not a democratic election,” mentioned spokeswoman Hoffmann. There isn’t any freedom of expression in Russia. “Russia, as the Chancellor has already said, is now a dictatorship” and is beneath authoritarian rule by Putin. I discover it “extremely problematic” that elections have been additionally held within the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. “Of course we do not recognize this in any way,” mentioned Hoffmann.

Sometimes it's a balancing act

In the case of Putin and his re-election, the choice to not congratulate him is relatively simple to make; actually, within the present state of affairs, congratulations would hardly have been justified.

This is just not all the time so clear when coping with authoritarian regimes. In addition to the general public non-congratulations, there are totally different gradations after elections for which congratulations are usually not a given, as was reported in Berlin on Monday. Instead of congratulating on the election immediately, you may wait till the appointment. This demonstrates a sure distance. In circumstances the place a public and official congratulation appears inappropriate, however diplomatic channels must be saved open, a private letter is usually despatched that’s not made public.

Things don't all the time go easily in these diplomatic balancing acts. A couple of years in the past, Steinmeier initially wavered between sending a vital telegram on the event of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and never sending a greeting in any respect. He selected the latter. But by then it was already too late. The German embassy in Tehran had already despatched the vital telegram.