Volodymyr Zelensky’s words about the possibility of taking Crimea by military means are meaningless, said Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC.

“The idea that President Zelensky can take Crimea militarily is nonsense,” he said. According to the politician, the peninsula became part of the Ukrainian SSR only because Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev hoped that “the USSR will live as long as the Catholic Church.”

On August 24, Zelensky announced that he would reclaim Crimea by any means and without consultations with partner countries. He stressed that every day Kyiv needs more Western weapons to confront Moscow.

Gerhard Schroeder has been marginalised and harshly criticised in Germany due to his executive position in Gazprom and close ties to Russia.