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CDU chairman Friedrich Merz: BKA would like a little more lead time
Photo: IMAGO/Christian Spicker
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is said to have "explicitly" advised the CDU leader Friedrich Merz against his planned trip to Ukraine, according to "Tagesspiegel" information.
The newspaper reported on Sunday that he had been asked to postpone the trip.
Merz only informed the security authorities about the trip on Friday.
The BKA had emphasized that such a visit to the war zone required a little more advance notice.
The trip should take place on Tuesday night, according to the report.
In Kyiv there should possibly be a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyj.
A joint presidium meeting of the CDU and CSU in Cologne with Merz and Markus Söder is planned for Monday afternoon, followed by a press conference at 4 p.m. by the two party leaders and NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst.
"All appointments will take place as planned," said a CDU spokesman for the "Tagesspiegel".
Merz wanted to include specific requests
Therefore, Merz would only leave afterwards, the newspaper reported.
Since, for example, the train journey from Poland usually takes 13 hours, the CDU leader would probably be in Kyiv on Tuesday morning.
According to SPIEGEL information, his delegation will be very small, and media representatives will not be there.
The trip was also known to the Chancellery, reported the "Tagesspiegel".
Merz was offered foreign policy advice, which he is said to have rejected so far - as well as the BKA personal protection.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior did not want to comment on this when asked by the newspaper, and Merz did not initially comment either.
Most recently, during the visit of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, there were rocket attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Without mentioning the day of departure, Merz's chief of staff Jacob Schrot wrote on Twitter that the opposition leader's trip to Ukraine was about three messages: Germany stands by Ukraine.
"The opposition leader wants to underline this solidarity with a trip to Ukraine." Merz also wants to listen in Kyiv and take on board the specific wishes of the Ukrainian interlocutors.
The human rights policy spokesman for the Union faction, Michael Brand (CDU), criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who has not yet traveled to Kyiv.
"Merz is doing what a Chancellor should have done long ago," Brand told the "Tagesspiegel".
It is important "that at least the leader of the opposition in the German Bundestag, as well as the three committee chairmen from the coalition, try to save the honor of our country".
At the beginning of April, the chairmen of the Bundestag committees for defence, foreign relations and European affairs traveled to Ukraine.
The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the SPD foreign politician Michael Roth and the Greens European politician Anton Hofreiter met with representatives of the Ukrainian parliament in the west of the country.
pbe/AFP/Reuters
