Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin
Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany, says he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin in due course, in an effort to restart relations that have been on the verge of collapse ever since the conflict in Ukraine.
German Chancellor said, “My last telephone call was some time ago”.
“But I plan to speak to Putin again in due course”, he added.
Early in December was the last time the leaders spoke on the phone.
Scholz asked to remove Moscow’s troops from Ukraine during the hour-long call, and the Russian president blamed the West for adopting destructive policies.
Since then, tensions between Moscow and Berlin have only become worse, particularly following Scholz’s government decision in January to permit the transfer of heavy battle tanks produced in Germany to Ukraine.
Scholz stated in the interview that his goal was to actively support Ukraine while preventing a direct conflict between NATO and Russia.
“And never to act alone, but always in close coordination with our friends and allies”, he added.
When asked about the possibility of ending the conflict through negotiations, Scholz stated that Putin must recognize that the war can not be concluded with some kind of cold peace.
“For instance, by transforming the current front line into the new ‘border’ between Russia and Ukraine”, he explained.
“Rather, it is about a fair peace, and the prerequisite for that is the withdrawal of Russian troops”, he continued.
After Moscow pushed troops into Ukraine in February of last year, relations between Russia and Germany froze.
The invasion, as well as Moscow’s move to deduce gas supplies to Europe, affected Germany especially hard since the country had come to rely on cheap Russian energy to power its economy.
Germany has abandoned its usual pacifist attitude in response to the war, providing a barrage of weapons to assist Kyiv in its fight against Moscow.
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