German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for an hour by phone on Friday, the first conversation between the two leaders in nearly two years, dpa has learned.
“The chancellor reaffirmed Germany’s continued and unwavering solidarity with Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression, which has now been ongoing for almost 1,000 days,” government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said afterwards. “He assured that Germany would continue its support for Ukraine, including in the military sphere, in close coordination with European and international partners.”
The chancellor spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone beforehand and will speak with Zelensky again after the conversation with Putin, according to Hebestreit.
Shortly before the conversation with Putin, however, Scholz also reiterated in remarks to parliament that Germany would not supply Ukraine with the long-range Taurus cruise missiles, which Ukraine has repeatedly requested.
The chancellor is currently seeking to hold a second Ukraine peace conference, this time including Russian officials, following an initial summit in Switzerland last summer. So far, however, there is no date in sight.
Scholz had said last weekend that he wanted to resume a dialogue with Putin “soon” to discuss the conflict in Ukraine.
“We have to see if there are ways to find out whether this war will go on forever or if we can find ways to end it,” he told a public broadcaster on Sunday.
Scholz will attend a G20 summit in Brazil early next week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also expected to attend the gathering of major economic powers.
That meeting may have prompted the discussion between Scholz and Putin. The Russian president had initially said he would attend the summit himself, but cancelled last month, saying he did not want to “disrupt the normal work of the forum.”
Putin is the subject of an international arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. He would risk arrest in Brazil.
Scholz is not planning any direct talks with Lavrov during the summit. However, according to sources close to Scholz, he does plan to discuss the Ukraine war with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is considered Putin’s most important ally.
Scholz last spoke to Putin on the phone in December 2022, when Scholz called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine during an hour-long discussion with Putin.
Russia launched its all-out attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
Scholz travelled to Moscow just over a week before Putin launched the invasion. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the two leaders sat two metres apart at a huge oval table in the Kremlin.
Ukrainian forces have faced intense pressure from relentless Russian attacks along the front lines in recent months, and now faces uncertainty over continued support from the United States following Donald Trump’s victory in last week’s US presidential election.
Trump, who will take office in January, has repeatedly expressed scepticism about US aid to Ukraine and signalled his interest in talks with Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia senses nervousness in the West with regard to Ukraine, but said it would be premature to speak of changes in stances toward the conflict.
“There are official statements from European representatives who are talking about continuing their general line of providing all kinds of support. And in Russian, that means pumping weapons into Ukraine to continue this war to the end,” said Peskov./dpa-argumentum.al
