Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz ready to talk to Vladimir Putin ‘at the right moment’

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared that he was ready to resume contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin when the time was right. In an interview published on Friday by the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger daily, he stressed that his goal was to actively support Ukraine and achieve a just peace after the withdrawal of the Russians from that country.

“It’s been a while since my last phone call. But when the time is right, I’m going to talk to Putin again,” said Olaf Scholz. The German Chancellor last spoke with the Russian leader in December 2022.

Russia must understand that the war cannot end in some “frozen peace”, such as turning the current front line into a new border between Russia and Ukraine, which would only legitimize “Putin’s criminal expedition,” Scholz said when asked about ending the war.

“On the contrary, a just peace must be reached, the condition of which is the withdrawal of Russian troops,” added the head of the German government. However, he refused to give a clear answer as to whether this would also apply to Crimea, which has been occupied since 2014. It is Ukraine that must define its demands precisely, he added.

Our goal remains “actively supporting Ukraine” while preventing “a direct conflict between NATO and Russia,” Scholz said. He stressed that in this matter one must not act alone, but “in close cooperation with friends and allies”.

Relations between Berlin and Moscow have been at an all-time low since Scholz last spoke with Putin, in which the German leader unsuccessfully urged the Russian dictator to withdraw from Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has forced Germany to make a painful and spectacular diplomatic and economic turnaround after Berlin had for decades sought rapprochement with Russia in these two areas, the French agency added.

Main photo source: PAP/EPA/DOSALIEV SULTAN/KYRGYZ PRESIDENT PRESS-SERVICE