Germany’s Merz requests ‘more pressure’ on Russia from US • FRANCE 24 English

Germany’s Merz requests ‘more pressure’ on Russia from US • FRANCE 24 English

during talks with President Donald Trump German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz exuded an ease that has been missing from recent Oval Office meetings No confrontational showdown with the US president But fundamental differences between how to handle the war in Ukraine remain between the two leaders While Mertz wants to see the conflict end as soon as possible Trump says Russia and Ukraine are like two fighting children who need to work out their differences before laying down arms Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy They hate each other and they’re fighting in a park and you try and pull them apart They don’t want to be pulled Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart During the meeting Mertz perhaps gave his most forceful statement when calling for countries to do their duty to end the war I I told the president before we came in that he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia and I think we are all in we are having the duty to do something on that now to stop it after three and a half years The chancellor like other allies is calling for more sanctions on the Kremlin who he sees as the aggressor But the US president is threatening to impose penalties on Ukraine too Be very very very tough and it could be on both countries to be honest You know it takes two to tango but they’ll be we’re going to be very tough Overall the talk struck a surprisingly warm tone despite Mertz’s past criticism of Trump The chancellor came bearing a personal gift a framed birth certificate of Trump’s German-B born grandfather But Mertz’s real offering was perhaps his bold policy moves to bring Germany closer to the president’s calls for allies to spend 5% of GDP on defense According to NATO’s chief Mark Rutter there’s broad support for the US leaders demands despite some members in the past calling such an increase unrealistic

In his first visit to the White House as German Chancellor on Thursday, Friedrich Merz pushed US President Donald Trump to apply “more pressure” on Russia to engage in ceasefire talks over its invasion of Ukraine. Trump likened the warring countries to “two young children fighting like crazy” who need to “fight for a while” before seriously contemplating peace talks.
#Friedrich Merz #DonaldTrump #Russia

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