Russian and German flags in Berlin. File photoBERLIN, Jun 21Foreign policy adviser to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, German diplomat Jens Pletner was accused of Russophilia after his joke during a conference held on Monday at the site of the German Society for Foreign Policy (DGAP). complained from the podium that the German media are focused on the topic of supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine and do not pay due attention to the issue of future relations with Moscow. there are somehow fewer articles on how our relations with Russia will develop in the future,» Pletner said. Speaking about the reforms that need to be carried out in Ukraine, Scholz's foreign policy adviser said that «just because someone is attacked, one cannot automatically become a better state of law.» After such a statement, the diplomat was called «Putin's man in Office of the Chancellor,» writes Handelsblatt. German politician Norbert Rettgen (CDU) linked the adviser's statement to Berlin's insufficient support for Kyiv on the issue of arms supply, calling the policy in which Germany allegedly prefers positive relations with Russia, neglecting cooperation with the Ukrainians, «a continuation of the delusion» it's time to think about Russia with love,» Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), head of the German Bundestag Defense Committee, commented on Pletner's words, adding that Scholz's closest adviser showed «the mindset that has led us to this terrible situation in recent decades.» Plötner was one of the closest associates of former Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), worked at the German Foreign Ministry under Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) and is considered one of the architects of policy towards Russia. According to Handelsblatt, his statement at Monday's event was met with indignation both in the current German Foreign Office and «in the circle of advisers» to US President Joe Biden. jpg» />Germany secretly turned to Russia on the issue of Ukraine, writes FPV of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), to which Chancellor Olaf Scholz belongs, denied accusations of «Russophilism» of adviser Plötner. However, this was done anonymously — the Handelsblatt material does not indicate the names of the «defenders». Western countries have previously introduced several packages of sanctions against the Russian Federation because of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the policy of containment and weakening of Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and the sanctions dealt a serious blow to the entire world economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people. Putin also said that the United States and the European Union had effectively defaulted on their obligations to Russia, freezing its foreign exchange reserves. He added that current events draw a line under the global dominance of the West in both politics and economics.
