Germany Refuses To Call Putin Russian President

The German Foreign Ministry called the vote in Russia "fake elections".

Berlin does not consider the presidential elections held on March 15-17 in Russia to be legitimate. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not congratulate Vladimir Putin on his victory. This statement was made on Monday, March 18, by the deputy official representative of the German government Christiane Hoffmann, DW reports.

Earlier, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that he did not intend to congratulate Putin on retaining the powers of the head of the Russian state.

"Germany does not consider the elections in the Russian Federation to be either free or fair"

"The German Chancellor did not congratulate [Vladimir Putin. - Ed.], and, as you know, we do not consider these so-called "elections" in Russia, held over the weekend, neither free nor fair. The outcome was unequivocally known in advance, Hoffman said at a government press conference. “We consider these elections undemocratic: real opponents were not allowed [in Russia. - Ed.], there was an atmosphere of intimidation, there were detentions, there was no freedom of opinion in Russia. Russia, as the Chancellor has already stated, is a dictatorship under the authoritarian rule of Vladimir Putin. In addition, from our point of view, it is an extremely severe problem to hold elections in the Ukrainian regions that are occupied by Russia, and we strongly condemn it. We won’t recognize it anyway. Only Ukraine has the right to hold elections in these territories. This is our assessment of these so-called "elections", and that is why the Chancellor [Olaf Scholz. - Ed.] did not congratulate him [Vladimir Putin. - Ed.]".

The German Foreign Ministry called the vote in the Russian Federation "fake elections"

Earlier, on March 17, the German Foreign Ministry called the vote in Russia "pseudo-elections". "Pseudo-elections in Russia are neither free nor fair, their result does not surprise anyone," Berlin said. The current head of the Russian state, Vladimir Putin, "rules authoritatively, relying on censorship, repression and violence," the German Foreign Ministry said.

The German Foreign Ministry also criticized the holding of a vote by the occupation authorities in the Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia. The "elections" in the occupied territories of Ukraine are invalid and are another violation of international law," the German Foreign Ministry said.