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Guests Gysi and Strack-Zimmermann with moderator Feldenkirchen
Gregor Gysi pleads for former Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to be allowed to negotiate with Russia on behalf of the federal government as mediators in the security crisis in Eastern Europe.
"What cannot be achieved at one level of government can perhaps be achieved by a former chancellor in another way," said the left-wing faction's foreign policy spokesman in the SPIEGEL top-level talks with moderator Markus Feldenkirchen.
However, the chairwoman of the defense committee in the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), who was also a guest on the show, contradicted this.
Schröder is "the biggest lobbyist under the sun".
In view of the former chancellor's recent statements, she thought she was in a comedy show.
"Tackling Ukraine as proactively" as Schröder was "can't be surpassed in terms of embarrassment."
The ex-chancellor works for companies in the Russian energy sector.
He recently accused Ukraine of "saber rattling" in the conflict with Russia - which also drew criticism from within the SPD.
Strack-Zimmermann also spoke out against Merkel as a mediator: the former chancellor no longer had any power.
Instead, the FD politician praised the appearance of the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the negotiations with Vladimir Putin.
There were also differences of opinion between Strack-Zimmermann and Gysi on the subject of Nord Stream 2.
If Putin invades Ukraine, "then the thing is dead," said Strack-Zimmermann about the gas pipeline.
In any case, this was never a purely economic project, but “a question of geostrategy”.
Gysi accused the US of double standards.
The United States was "always opposed" to Nord Stream 2, while Russia was "the second largest oil exporter to the United States."
US President Joe Biden “wants us to shut down Nord Stream 2, but he's still getting the oil from Russia even if they attack Ukraine.
That will not do."
Regarding the current developments on the Russian-Ukrainian border, Gysi said he still does not believe that Russia would invade Ukraine: "The damage would be too great." Strack-Zimmermann pointed out that the current information on possible withdrawals of Russian units should not overestimate: "The information we have says the opposite." The FDP politician said that Putin wanted to turn back history.
Gysi replied that the West had not responded to Putin's offers of comprehensive cooperation since his appearance before the Bundestag in 2001, "because of a certain arrogance."
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