British ex-Prime Minister Johnson reports on a conversation with Putin shortly before the start of the war.
Scholz speaks plain text on the fighter jet debate.
The news ticker.
Debate
about
fighter jets
for Kiev: Chancellor Scholz rejects
Did
Putin
threaten Boris
Johnson
?
Kremlin spokesman denied
China
blames
US
for Ukraine war: "Are the biggest factor"
Ryabkov
declares
peace talks
“pointless”: Putin diplomat rails against “Nazis”
This
news ticker
on
war diplomacy
is constantly updated.
Update from January 30, 4:35 p.m
.: Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov continues to accuse the West of “escalation” in the Ukraine war – this time he specifically responded to Andriy Melnyk’s request for a German submarine: “Ukraine is demanding more and more weapons and the West encourages it,” he said, referring to Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister.
"Anyway, this cannot and will not affect the course of things, because we will continue our military special operation," Peskov reiterated to media representatives in Moscow, according to the state news agency TASS.
Pistorius: Chancellor Scholz has said everything about combat aircraft
Update from January 30, 3:55 p.m
.: Defense Minister Boris Pistorius – like Chancellor Olaf Scholz – does not want to get involved in a fighter jet debate after the decision to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine.
The SPD politician said when he visited the Bundeswehr Operations Command in Schwielowsee that he did not answer any considerations as to whether the Bundeswehr had to give up aircraft.
"And by the way, as far as I know, the Federal Chancellor has said everything that needs to be said," added Pistorius, who found out about the Bundeswehr's foreign missions.
Debate about fighter jets for Kyiv: Chancellor Scholz rejects
Update from January 30, 1:42 p.m
.: “Everything has now been said about this, including me”: With these words, Chancellor Olaf
Scholz expressed his incomprehension about the fighter jet debate.
"It is idiosyncratic that this debate is being held." During his visit to Chile, Scholz again warned against a "bidding war" on the issue of arms deliveries, in which "domestic political motives are more important than support for Ukraine".
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leadership has also expressed a desire for warships and submarines.
However, Germany will not supply material for the Navy, said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann in Berlin: "The chancellor warned very clearly about this." will deliver, because this is "the wrong debate at this point in time".
+
Olaf Scholz on his first trip to Latin America as Chancellor, here in Santiago de Chile
© Kay Nietfeld
Because of the Ukraine war: Poland wants to significantly increase defense spending
Update from January 30, 1:03 p.m
.: Poland wants to increase its defense budget to four percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in an “unprecedented” step in 2023.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in Warsaw that the Ukraine war is making Poland's armament "even faster".
He did not discuss the financing of these additional funds.
According to NATO figures, Poland spent more than 2.4 percent of its GDP on defense in 2022, ranking third within the defense alliance after Greece (3.76 percent) and the USA (3.47 percent).
NATO currently has a two percent target to be achieved by 2024.
Germany and some other countries such as Canada and Belgium have so far spent significantly less on defense.
For Germany, only a rate of 1.44 percent was last expected for 2022.
"That's a lie": Peskov denies Putin's threat to Johnson
Update from January 30, 12:32 p.m
.: The Kremlin has denied alleged threats by Vladimir Putin to Boris Johnson.
“What Mr Johnson said is not true.
More precisely, it's a lie," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Russian news
agency Interfax
.
The former British prime minister had previously claimed that the Kremlin chief had personally threatened him with a rocket attack.
Putin diplomat brings end of arms control talks with US into play
Update from January 30, 12:02 p.m
.: With the bilateral “New Start” agreement, Washington and Moscow committed to reducing their nuclear warheads to a maximum of 1550 each.
In November 2022, however, Russia had postponed the arms control talks - Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova justified this against the background of the Ukraine war with the "hostility" of the USA.
Now it could be canceled from the postponed one.
In an interview with the state news agency Ria Novosti, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, responded to the question of whether there could be no arms control treaty with the Americans after 2026 with the words: “That is a likely scenario.” He also threw up the United States before a "hybrid war" against his country.
+
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov in front of the UN Security Council in New York (archive photo)
© Richard Drew/dpa
China blames US for Ukraine war: "Are the biggest factor"
Update from January 30, 10:44 a.m
.: China is attacking the USA – the background is economic: Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning was now asked by the press in Beijing about US allegations that Chinese companies should possibly support the Russian side.
But Ning dismissed this as "unfounded suspicions" and "baseless blackmail".
China will not stand by if the US harms the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.
"The United States are the ones who triggered the Ukraine crisis," Mao Ning claimed.
They are also "the biggest factor fueling the crisis" by supplying heavy weapons.
China has never publicly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Only a few days before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to visit Beijing, the tone has now intensified.
Ryabkov declares peace talks “pointless”: Putin diplomat rails against “Nazis”
Update from January 30, 10:01 a.m
.: The Russian leadership is again reacting venomously to the planned Western tank deliveries to Ukraine: “Under the current conditions, since Washington has announced its decision to deliver tanks, and its vassals (...) are competing who is supplying Ukraine with how much tank technology, it is pointless to talk to the Ukrainian Nazis or their puppeteers," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state news agency
Ria Novosti
.
Moscow repeatedly claims that National Socialists are in power in Kyiv, and that they are being directed from abroad.
The diplomat Ryabkov criticized the new Western plans as a "highly destructive step" with the aim of further escalation in Ukraine.
He blamed the US and NATO for the war.
He justified the Russian attack with "legitimate security interests" and an alleged oppression of the Russian population there.
Finland joins NATO - but not Sweden: Erdogan indicates approval
Update from January 30, 8.42 a.m
.: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated approval of Finland's admission to NATO - without Sweden.
"If necessary, we can give a different message in relation to Finland," Erdogan said in a speech to young people on Sunday evening, according to a report by the state news agency Anadolu.
The Turkish President added: "Sweden will be shocked if we make a different statement about Finland." At the same time, he warned Finland not to make the same "mistakes" as its neighbor.
The two Nordic countries want to become members of NATO because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
However, Erdogan has blocked a recording for months.
He accuses Sweden of supporting "terrorist organizations" such as the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK.
He also demands the extradition of 130 alleged "terrorists".
Last week, Erdogan said Sweden could not count on his country's support after an Islamophobic politician burned a Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
Disagreement in fighter jet deliveries: Chancellor Scholz speaks of "idiosyncratic debate"
Update from January 30, 7.48 a.m
.: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) reacted with incomprehension to the ongoing discussion about the delivery of combat aircraft to Ukraine.
"Everything has now been said about this, including me," said Scholz on Sunday during his visit to Chile.
"It is idiosyncratic that this debate is being held."
With a view to the discussion about arms deliveries to Ukraine, Scholz again warned against a "bidding competition" in which "domestic political motives are in the foreground instead of supporting Ukraine".
With such an important topic, it must be "about factual issues, about rational considerations," emphasized the Chancellor at a joint press conference with Chilean President Gabriel Boric.
What is needed is a “serious debate in which what needs to be decided is decided”.
Shortly before the start of the Ukraine war: Putin is said to have threatened British ex-Prime Minister Johnson
Update from January 30, 6:16 a.m
.: According to British ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Russian President Vladimir Putin personally threatened shortly before the start of the Ukraine war.
"He kind of threatened me at one point and said, 'Boris, I don't want to hurt you, but with a missile it would only take a minute' or something like that." Johnson said in a BBC documentary, according to the British PA news agency, which is scheduled to air on Monday.
+
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Russian President Vladimir Putin (C LR) talk during a meeting on the sidelines of an international summit on Libya in 2020.
© IMAGO / ITAR-TASS
"Judging by the very relaxed tone and calmness he seemed to display, he must have been toying with my attempts to get him to negotiate," Johnson continued.
Like other Western leaders, the then prime minister had tried to steer Putin off course shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The statements are said to have been made.
President Zelenskyy is confident: 2023 will be the year of victory
Update from January 29, 10:45 p.m
.: Despite the currently difficult situation at the front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is confident of victory: “2023 must and will definitely be the year of our victory!” Zelenskyj wrote on Telegram on Sunday.
In his video speech every evening, he also conceded, with a view to the hard-fought east of his country: "The situation is very tough." In the Donetsk region, the cities of Bakhmut and Wuhledar in particular are still exposed to constant Russian shelling.
Despite high losses in their own ranks, the Russians did not reduce the intensity of their attacks there.
"Russia hopes to prolong the war and exhaust our forces," said Zelenskyy.
“So we must make time our weapon.
We need to accelerate events.” In particular, the speed of delivery of foreign military aid is a key factor in this war, the Ukrainian leader stressed.
He also insisted once again on further arms deliveries beyond the main battle tanks recently promised by the West.
Esken does not rule out fighter jets - Scholz warns of "outbidding competition" for weapons deliveries
First report from January 29, 7 p.m
.: Berlin – Germany delivers 14 Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
From Kiev's point of view, however, this should not be the end of it.
Ukraine repeatedly requested the delivery of fighter jets over the weekend.
What the Chancellor recently clearly denied is now no longer ruled out by his party leader.
SPD leader Saskia Esken can possibly imagine a delivery of fighter jets in the Ukraine war: When asked whether she would rule out the delivery of fighter jets, Esken said on Sunday in the ARD “Report from Berlin”: “It is very important on the fact that Germany and that NATO are not parties to the war," the government wants to avoid "for all future".
That is why the government is in very close coordination with the USA on these issues.
At the same time, it is important that Germany make it clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin with every decision "that we reject Russian aggression".
There was also no clear no to the delivery of submarines, as ex-ambassador Andriy Melnyk had demanded on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Olaf Scholz is more reserved.
The chancellor warned in an interview with the
Tagesspiegel at the weekend
before "entering into a constant bidding war when it comes to weapon systems".
He was referring to the demand to now also supply fighter jets to Ukraine.
He made similar statements in his government survey in the Bundestag.
I made it clear very early on that it was not about combat aircraft.
That hasn't changed at all - and nothing will change either.
Olaf Scholz on January 25 in the German Bundestag
Fighter jet deliveries: Defense Minister considers “that to be impossible”
Explosive: The new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, also SPD, put a clear stop to the delivery of fighter jets.
"I think that's out of the question," he told the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
: "Combat aircraft are much more complex systems than main battle tanks and have a completely different range and firepower.
We would venture into dimensions that I would currently strongly warn against.” SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert also put the brakes on arms deliveries in the
Merkur
interview.
And even the FDP defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann - a vehement supporter of arms deliveries to Ukraine - said on RTL: "I don't see it with the planes, to say it directly."
Different statements were heard from Paris.
"We have to examine requests on a case-by-case basis and leave all doors open," said the chairman of the French National Assembly's defense committee, Thomas Gassilloud, according to the British
Telegraph
at a meeting in London.
"We'll see what happens next in the coming weeks because things are moving fast." Other Western countries like the Netherlands aren't ruling out jet delivery either.
Russia on jet deliveries: "It's worth remembering Baerbock's remarks"
Is the next NATO disagreement looming on the jet issue?
Russia is already mocking the current statements.
The West is sending "competing and quite demonstrative signals," said Duma deputy Leonid Slutsky.
He was a member of the Russian delegation that met with Ukraine last spring for peace talks.
The Russian news agency Tass also quoted the politician with statements about Germany.
Scholz promises that Germany is not interested in an escalation, while at the same time NATO officials speak of a "direct confrontation with Russia".
He probably meant Admiral Rob Bauer, the president of the NATO military committee.
He said on Sunday: "NATO is prepared for a direct confrontation with Russia."
Slutski also said: "It is worth remembering the statements made by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock about a 'war against Russia'." .” The Foreign Office later qualified Baerbock's statement and made it clear that supporting Ukraine in exercising its right to self-defense does not make Germany “a party to the conflict”.
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List of rubrics: © Kay Nietfeld
