Criticism of former SPD chairman Matthias Platzeck's trips to Moscow is growing louder, even within his own ranks.

Speaking to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, several Social Democratic historians criticized the former Brandenburg Prime Minister’s visits to Russia. "Matthias Platzeck's trips are politically stupid and demonstrate great naivety," Bernd Rother, a historian, SPD party member, and member of the history forum at the SPD party executive, told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. All diplomatic efforts would fail because of Vladimir Putin, Rother explained, adding: "It's painful that a former SPD chairman has lost his political compass so completely." Jan Claas Behrends, historian at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam, also criticized the trips: "The hubris of Matthias Platzeck, who as former Minister President of Brandenburg wants to make world politics, is astonishing," Behrends told the Tagesspiegel.

He is frightened by the sheer number of trips. Behrends argues that Platzeck's numerous visits to Moscow have made him less credible: "His statement at the beginning of the full-scale invasion that he had empathy with Ukraine was obviously hypocritical; otherwise, he would have traveled to Kyiv." However, Platzeck is not the only politician "on the wrong path" who wants to maintain contact with Russia despite the war of aggression against Ukraine. Behrends concludes: "In 2022, Platzeck said he had been wearing too much of a Russian lens – today we see: He hasn't taken them off since then either." Knut Abraham, CDU member of the Bundestag and foreign policy representative of the CDU/CSU, demanded clarification about the trips. "Matthias Platzeck must disclose what he did in Russia and who he met there," he told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. Abraham continued: "If he doesn't explain this to the public promptly, I won't buy his cliché about maintaining diplomatic channels."