Poland’s Duda Says Scholz Undermining Trump Push to End War
(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s head of state accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz of trying to cut Donald Trump out of talks over the future of Ukraine in a bid to revive Germany’s own relations with Russia.
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Scholz drew criticism from the government in Kyiv and some of its allies over his phone call last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he justified by saying he aimed to push the Kremlin leader to negotiate a lasting peace with Ukraine.
But Polish President Andrzej Duda, who has cultivated a close relationship with Trump since the president-elect’s first term in office, said the telephone diplomacy had another purpose.
“I believe it was an attempt to bring about a cease-fire in Ukraine before Donald Trump took office,” Duda said in an interview in Warsaw.
Duda also criticized Scholz’s decision to invite US President Joe Biden for talks on the future of Ukraine with the leaders of France and the UK last month in Berlin. The Polish leader said he was “shocked” that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wasn’t given a seat at the table.
Asked about Duda’s comments during a news conference at the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Scholz reiterated his reasons for talking with Putin.
“We also have to make sure that Europe speaks, and so I emphasize again that it was very important to hold talks,” Scholz told reporters.
“Also to be able to report that, unfortunately from what we heard, nothing has changed with the Russian president from his original plans,” he added.
Duda’s intervention is the latest evidence of how Kyiv’s allies are jockeying for position ahead of a major shakeup in geopolitics triggered by Trump’s return.
The Polish head of state also has his own agenda to worry about — he’ll be out of a job next year when constitutional limits prevent him from running for a third term as president and he has been isolated at home since his allies in the Law & Justice party were defeated by Prime Minister Donald Tusk in 2023.
Duda said that Scholz is concerned about being pushed into disadvantageous deals with Washington after Trump takes office and is trying to get ahead of that. The German leader is politically hobbled after his government collapsed this month, triggering an early election in February.
“What the Germans are most afraid of is that Donald Trump will force them to buy gas from America,” Duda said.
Asked about those comments, Scholz responded by pointing out that Germany had “made itself independent” from Russian gas and wasn’t about to give that up.
He said that an LNG terminal at Mukran on Germany’s Baltic coast represents an “important security contribution for nations in central and eastern Europe that have no direct port access and depend on being connected to the German pipeline network for their gas deliveries” — including Poland.
Duda and Trump have maintained close ties and discussed the war in Ukraine during a two-and-a-half hour meeting in New York in April.
During a phone call on Nov. 11, they agreed to meet again before Trump’s inauguration. Duda said he warned the US president-elect in that phone call that Germany and other allies are trying to “tie his hands.”
The Polish president’s assertions could reverberate in a delicate diplomatic environment after this month’s reelection of Trump, who has questioned support for Kyiv and signaled he would end Russia’s war in Ukraine by his inauguration on Jan. 20. Ukraine’s allies are now shifting tack as expectations mount that the conflict may be brought to an end sooner.
But unlike other Trump allies in Europe, such as Hungary’s pro-Russian premier, Viktor Orban, Duda — along with the government in Warsaw — has been an unstinting critic of the Kremlin’s war aims and a consistent supporter of weapons deliveries and financial aid to Kyiv.
The renewed focus on a settlement to the conflict shows the sense of urgency among Ukraine’s allies who are trying to get ahead of Trump’s return and the possibility of drastic cuts in US support.
With North Korean troops entering the fray on the Russian side, ambition is building for an end to a conflict that’s laid waste to large swathes of Ukraine, consumed hundreds of billions of dollars in financial aid and foreign weapons and upended geopolitical relationships in Europe and around the world.
Collecting Data
Duda dismissed as “laughable” suggestions that Trump would abandon Ukraine, pointing to military aid that his previous administration sent to Kyiv. The Polish leader said Trump didn’t outline his plan for the war, but he quizzed the Pole about his views and the stances of other leaders.
“I’m convinced that when it comes to the war in Ukraine, he is collecting data and information,” Duda said. “At this moment, he is constantly, continuously collecting this information in a very vigilant manner.”
Duda wasn’t alone in criticizing Scholz’s hour-long call with Putin Friday, the first direct contact in almost two years. Ukraine blasted the effort, other European allies took a dim view of the exchange.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Monday in an interview with rbb24 Inforadio that “diplomacy only works if talking continues even in the most difficult moments. At the same time, it’s important that we speak together as Europeans.”
--With assistance from Michael Nienaber.
(Updates with Scholz comments starting in sixth paragraph.)
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