The SPD Acknowledges Mistakes in Germany's Policy Towards Russia 0 8

Rolf Mützenich, the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) faction in the Bundestag from 2019 to 2025, acknowledged miscalculations in the approach of the then German authorities towards Russia. "I didn’t have a Plan B," Mützenich said in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, published on Saturday, October 25.

This is how the politician commented on his statements made before the start of the Russian armed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At that time, he called for including Russia in the pan-European security system.

The SPD was part of the ruling coalition in Germany from 2018 to 2021 as the junior partner of Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc. Since December 2021, the Social Democrats have led a new coalition government.

Mützenich: Mistakes Were Made

Rolf Mützenich emphasized that when discussing rapprochement with the Russian Federation before the war, he used the term "in the long term," but added: "I acknowledge that I did not think in time about what would happen if the integration of Russia turned out to be impossible."

The politician also criticized the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which was supported by the then German authorities. When asked whether Germany's policy towards Russia was naive, Mützenich admitted: "Mistakes were made. And I do not exclude myself from that number."

The German government continued to defend Nord Stream 2 as a "private initiative" even after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the politician noted. "Of course, Germany had its own interest in this project - economic," Mützenich said. "Our industry benefited from cheap Russian gas. Why not just acknowledge that under capitalist conditions, these contradictions cannot be easily resolved?"

Mützenich Agrees with Merkel's Recent Statements

Mützenich agreed with Merkel, who recently stated that Eastern European countries had refused to continue negotiations with the Russian Federation before the invasion of Ukraine. "If Eastern European politicians now claim that there was no point in negotiating with Putin back then, I would respond: you can only understand whether negotiations are hopeless after you try. In this, I agree with Angela Merkel," said the Social Democrat.

Despite the self-criticism, Mützenich emphasized that he remains convinced: "Foreign and defense policy is not only about rearmament and deterrence." According to him, this principle has always been the foundation of the Social Democrats' foreign policy course and should remain so.

SPD Has Already Acknowledged Mistakes in Relations with Russia

Earlier, the leadership of the SPD had already acknowledged mistakes in its own policy over the past decades regarding Russia. Party leaders made such statements, in particular, at the party congress in December 2023.

However, in June 2025, Mützenich, along with SPD Bundestag member Ralf Stegner and former SPD chairman Norbert Walter-Borjans, signed a foreign policy manifesto that called for a reassessment of the policy towards Russia and a reduction in military spending.

The document stated that "militaristic rhetoric and large-scale rearmament programs do not make Germany and Europe safer, but only intensify the mutual perception of threats between NATO and Russia." The authors of the manifesto called for the gradual restoration of dialogue and cooperation with Moscow. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, also an SPD representative, called this document "a refusal to acknowledge reality."