'Stubborn stupidity': Putin envoy lashes out at Germany's Merz

Russia has responded with mockery to an alleged comment by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to European counterparts expressing mistrust at the US envoys negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine.

"Dear Merz, you are not even in the game," Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev wrote on X. "You disqualified yourself by warmongering, peace sabotage, unrealistic proposals, Western Civilisation suicide, migration, stubborn stupidity."

The comment came after Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine leaked the alleged transcript of a call between top EU politicians that was also joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"They are playing games with both you and us," Merz told Zelensky of the US negotiators, according to the Spiegel report.

A government spokesman in Berlin said that, as a matter of principle, they could not report on confidential talks.

"I ask for your understanding that we do not comment on individual media reports," he said, while pointing to remarks made by Merz at a press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Monday.

At that event, Merz had referred to a joint phone call with Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European partners, and said they were keeping the trans-Atlantic community together as best they can.

The Kremlin blames Western powers for the war against Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered in early 2022. Putin has repeatedly claimed that the West is using Ukraine as a means to wage war against Russia.

Dmitriev, who studied in the United States, is Putin's negotiator in talks with Washington. He is seen as a skilled diplomat who primarily uses economic incentives to win over the administration of US President Donald Trump.