Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held their first phone conversation in two years today, according to Reuters.
For many years, Western leaders had no contact with Putin after the start of the war in Ukraine. This began to shift after Donald Trump won the US elections. Trump has repeatedly stated that he would end the war very quickly but did not specify how. After his victory, Trump reportedly called Putin and asked him not to escalate the war. Following the call, Russia launched the largest yet attack on Ukraine with 145 drones of various types, including Iranian-made Shaheds.
Reuters, citing sources in the German government, reported that Scholz and Putin spoke for about an hour. The German government confirmed the conversation and revealed the first details.
“The chancellor condemned Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine and called on President Putin to end it and withdraw troops.
The chancellor urged Russia to negotiate with Ukraine to establish a just and lasting peace and emphasized the inviolable nature of this agreement,” the German official statement said.
It is also emphasized that Scholz told Putin that “Germany will continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary.”
The German government added that Scholz had a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in advance and would also hold another phone call after talking with Putin.
According to the Kremlin, during the talks, both sides had “a detailed and frank exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine.”
As Russian media RIA Novosti wrote, Putin told Scholz that the current crisis “was a direct result of NATO’s years-long aggressive policy.” He also said that Russia has never refused and is open to resuming negotiations.
“Putin told Scholz that possible agreements on Ukraine should be based on new territorial realities and eliminate the root causes of the conflict,” said the report.
In addition, Putin spoke about the “unprecedented degradation of relations between Russia and Germany in all areas” due to “the unfriendly course of the German authorities.”
At the beginning of the week, Olaf Scholz said that he would soon try to establish a dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin again.
At the same time, he said that “as a responsible politician,” he was not going to talk to Putin alone. He noted that talking with the Russian ruler would require negotiations with other parties and also emphasized the need to discuss the situation with Ukraine. The last time Scholz spoke with Putin was in December 2022.
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