German Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has come out sideways for the German leadership. Representatives of the local opposition did not like that the negotiations were not announced in advance. As the representative of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) on foreign policy issues Bidjan Jir-Saray stated, this silence looks suspicious, writes Deutsche Welle. But even more criticism was given to Merkel for meeting with the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army Valery Gerasimov. He arrived in Berlin as part of the Russian delegation, despite the fact that personal sanctions were introduced against him.

"It's hard to believe that Germany has retreated from the established rules and allowed Gerasimov to enter the country, despite the fact that he is forbidden to cross the borders of the European Union because of the sanctions imposed in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea by Russia," the representative of the party alliance Soyuz -90 "/" green "Omid Nuripur. According to him, the "green" will not leave it so: they intend to initiate a "parliamentary investigation" over Merkel's negotiations with the Russians. The day before it became known that Lavrov and the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Gerasimov visited RF, on July 24, in Berlin, where they discussed with the German Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister of Germany Heiko Maas the situation in Syria and Ukraine.