Kremlin denies receiving Scholz’s request to speak with Putin

The Kremlin has not received any requests for a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, Peskov told journalists that no request had been received from Berlin for a telephone conversation with Putin.

Peskov added that "at first glance, there are no common topics" due to the near-complete freeze in relations between Germany and Russia over Russia's war against Ukraine. However, he noted that Putin "was and remains open to dialogue."

According to Zeit, Scholz was considering the possibility of a telephone conversation with Putin ahead of the G20 meeting in Brazil in November. This would mark the first direct contact since 2022.

After the Zeit publication, a German government spokesperson clarified that while Scholz had previously expressed a desire to speak with Putin "at an opportune moment," there are currently no plans for such a conversation.

The last time Scholz spoke with Putin was at the end of 2021, before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Specific plans for a call to Moscow were in place in August 2023 following the plane crash that killed Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. However, the chancellor’s administration repeatedly postponed the conversation, reportedly due to a lack of signals from the Kremlin that it could take place.

Representatives of Western countries supporting Ukraine will gather in Ramstein on 12 October. US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the meeting.

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