Berlin Police Probe Zelensky Visit Leak

Berlin police said Thursday, May 4, they would open an investigation after details of a possible trip by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Germany attributed to the force appeared in the media.

Investigators had launched a probe "into a suspected betrayal of secrets... in relation to a possible visit by a state president", police said in a statement.

Local daily BZ on Wednesday reported that law enforcement in Berlin were readying for a visit by Zelensky to the German capital in mid-May.

Police confirmed the probe related to an article in BZ. The report contained "confidential details" on the preparations for Zelensky's visit, police said.

"At no time did the Berlin police officially provide any information that endangered the state visit," it said in a statement.

The force's press office did however confirm a planned operation in response to the BZ report.

"I find it unbearable that... a single employee is damaging the reputation of the Berlin police in such a shameful way nationally and internationally," Berlin police president Barbara Slowik said in the statement.

"I can only imagine that the person was not aware of the consequences of their actions," Slowik said.

Officials in Kyiv were frustrated by the leaked details, according to a report by German news site T-Online Wednesday.

Relations between Berlin and Kyiv have sometimes been strained after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

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When asked if he was open to peace talks with Putin, Zelensky said the focus should not be on “the one on the opposite side of the table” but on the position “you find yourself in.’

Ukraine has accused Germany of being too accommodating to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the run up to the war and harried Berlin to provide it with more military support.

Kyiv snubbed a visit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the weeks following the invasion, which in turn delayed Chancellor Olaf Scholz's first visit to the war-torn country. Both Steinmeier and Scholz have however since visited Ukraine.