ST.PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2022) Eugen Schmidt, a German lawmaker from the right-wing AfD party, suggested that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock punched above her weight when she proposed on Tuesday holding talks with Russia to strengthen European security.
The Greens minister told reporters in Moscow after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that her country was open to a "serious dialogue on mutual agreements," after Russia demanded legally-binding security guarantees from the United States and its allies in response to NATO's eastward expansion.
"What can Germany actually offer besides a dialogue on this issue? It is no coincidence that Russia turned to the United States over the heads of its European satellites to establish new security rules on the European continent," Schmidt told Sputnik.
He said that the German coalition government remained split over how to approach Russia. The center-left Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz traditionally advocate closer ties with Moscow, while Baerbock's Greens have sided with NATO allies in choosing confrontation, Schmidt argued.
