The Ukrainian Ambassador in Berlin, Andrei Melnyk, commented on SPD Secretary General Kevin Kühnert’s Twitter exit: “Gosh,” he wrote, adding mockingly: “Now I’m afraid to tweet something again.” And further: “Dear Kevin Kühnert: nothing personal, just business”. Ukraine will continue to fight – “with or without German weapons”.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert had previously justified his departure from Twitter by saying that the culture of discussion at the short message service led to “false conclusions and errors in political decisions”. “I haven’t really used the account in the last few months. You just have to draw the conclusion for yourself and say: This doesn’t seem to be the right medium for sending and receiving for my political work,” said Kühnert in a video interview with the editorial network Germany (RND).
And that’s why he deactivated the account now. “I simply think that the culture of discussion that takes place on Twitter and also the way in which society is represented there or is not represented at all, that leads to false conclusions and mistakes in political decisions,” added Kühnert. At least he’s found that if he spends too much time on Twitter, he has a distorted perception of reality.
Shortly before Kühnert’s decision, the SPD general secretary had been sharply criticized by Melnyk on Twitter for his refusal to supply German tanks to Ukraine. “My goodness, Kevin Kühnert,” Melnyk tweeted. “This catastrophic policy of refusal by the SPD and the traffic light to abandon Ukraine militarily at this critical moment will have devastating consequences for the future.”
