Overview

• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Merz’s opinions on potential peace talks should not be taken into account following the chancellor’s remarks about Vladimir Putin.
• Merz described Putin as “perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time” in a ProSieben.Sat.1 interview and rejected any concessions to war criminals.
• Moscow reiterated it denies war crimes in Ukraine and called the International Criminal Court’s 2023 arrest warrant for Putin “outrageous.”
• Merz proposed Geneva as a venue for possible talks between Russia and Ukraine, a suggestion the Kremlin brushed aside.
• The chancellor said Germany has no plans to deploy troops to Ukraine, noted any future deployment would require Bundestag approval, and flagged ongoing Russian hybrid threats to German security.