Putin consults former German Chancellor Kohl on Ukraine issue

German magazine Spiegel quoted an anonymous source as saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin recently sent many letters to former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, including messages about the situation in Ukraine.

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. (Source: AFP).

The author of the article believes that with this action, Mr. Putin hopes that Mr. Kohl can defend Russia in the crisis in Ukraine. The office of the former German Chancellor, in a conversation with the magazine, refused to comment on this information.

According to Spiegel's assessment, Mr. Kohl's opinions on foreign policy issues, as before, are still valuable to EU members. Mr. Kohl's support could help Moscow in the face of the tough stance of current Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The magazine noted that Mr. Kohl had previously repeatedly warned European politicians not to stop dialogue with Russia.

In his book, "Trouble for Europe," published in November 2014, Mr. Kohl wrote: "Russia's participation in building a stable European security system is very important."

In the book, Mr. Kohl partly blames what is happening in Ukraine on the West. He writes: "Of course, the West cannot remain silent about Russia's actions and the situation in Ukraine, but it itself could have acted more intelligently." The former German Chancellor notes that both sides have made mistakes.

On June 8, at the Group of Seven (G-7) Summit, Chancellor Merkel announced that all parties agreed to tighten sanctions against Russia if the situation in Eastern Ukraine worsens.

Previously, Ms. Merkel said many times that the return of the G-8 was impossible because during this period, Russia's actions conflicted with Western values./.

(According to VN+)