“Behind closed doors”
Ukrainian ambassador criticizes Taurus debate
March 16, 2024, 6:27 p.m
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Ambassador Makeiev considers the open dispute in German politics over possible Taurus deliveries to be harmful. He does not believe that Chancellor Scholz distrusts Ukrainian President Zelensky.
The Ukrainian ambassador to Berlin, Oleksii Makeiev, has criticized the nature of the German debate about the Taurus cruise missile. “Content-related discussions about various weapon systems are best conducted behind closed doors,” he said in an interview with ntv.de. “There were long discussions about the MARS rocket launcher and the self-propelled howitzer 2000, but not in public. Both were delivered.”
Oleksii Makeiev has been the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany since 2022.
(Photo: Klaus Wedekind)
It is important for ambassadors not to interfere in domestic political discussions. “I have to concentrate on substantive questions and not on personal ones. That’s why I keep arguing why something is wrong or why we need far-reaching systems.” These would currently be “very helpful in reaching command centers, ammunition depots and communication routes for supply deliveries far behind the front line.”
When asked whether there was a general mistrust of his country behind the refusal to give Ukraine the Taurus, Makeiev replied: “The suspicion is in the air, I’ve been asked that often, and that was also the topic on Wednesday in the Bundestag. But I can rule out that there is a general distrust of Ukraine in Germany. There is too much solidarity for that. I also don’t think that the Chancellor distrusts my President. I have accompanied them both on appointments many times We always had honest conversations. We gave no reason for mistrust, we always kept to all agreements. All weapons are only used as agreed.”
Makeiev described his own role in Germany as that of an arms dealer, storyteller and psychotherapist: “For me as the ambassador of a country that is at war, three things are important. Firstly, I have to be an arms dealer in a certain way. Secondly, a storyteller, because in Diplomacy is also about telling stories.” And sometimes he feels like a psychotherapist. “Here in Germany there are a lot of fears when it comes to Russia. It’s like a childhood trauma that you haven’t dealt with. As a result of the Second World War, the Germans feel responsible for Russia. This has become a dependency and sometimes even an obsession with Russia . And of course there are fears of a nuclear war, or of war approaching that is 800 kilometers away. Many also prefer to look the other way. All of these fears and traumas need to be addressed.”
You can find the full interview here on Sunday from 7 a.m.