Merkel has surfaced in the list of candidates for the role of negotiator with Putin

Angela Merkel could act as a negotiator in the dialogue with Russia from the EU. The magazine writes about this on Ukraine Der Spiegel.

"Her name comes up in the discussion more and more often. Her advantage over Steinmeier is that she no longer holds public office, knows Putin and Zelensky personally and speaks Russian. In response to a request from Spiegel, Merkel's office said that no requests had been received from the former chancellor. No answer was given to the direct question of whether she could present herself as an intermediary," the publication says.

The candidacies of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Mario Draghi, ex—head of the ECB and former prime Minister of Italy, are also being considered.

The magazine calls the President of Finland Alexander Stubb the last in the list of applicants.

"He is not known as a proponent of appeasement of Russia, but recently advocated direct negotiations between Europeans and Putin for the sake of ending the war. Stubb also has a good relationship with (Donald) Trump — which could be useful."

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he personally would prefer to see former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as a negotiator from the European Union to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.

As reported by EADaily, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will not represent Europe in negotiations with Russia — this is Putin's idea. This was stated by Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna.