Overview

• Matthias Platzeck has made nine informal trips to Moscow since late 2022 without any official mandate to maintain back-channel talks on the Ukraine war.
• Alexander Gauland praised Platzeck’s diplomatic expertise and regular engagement with Russian interlocutors as beneficial for Germany.
• Sahra Wagenknecht commended his efforts to sustain contact and urged Chancellor Friedrich Merz to pursue direct talks with President Putin in Moscow.
• Platzeck says he acts solely as a private citizen focused on conflict resolution and rejects suggestions that his visits concerned gas trade or Nord Stream reactivation.
• His Russia trips have prompted debate within the SPD over transparency and the appropriateness of unofficial diplomacy.