In a telephone conversation this afternoon, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine and to negotiate peace with Kyiv. German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced this in a press statement. The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and the DPA agency previously reported on the phone call between Putin and Scholz, which was the first in about two years. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, according to Reuters, did not welcome the phone call between Scholz and Putin, on the contrary, he warned the chancellor against such behavior. According to a Kremlin communique, Putin insisted on territorial claims and other demands against Ukraine, which refuses to capitulate and is resisting Russian aggression for the third year.
“The chancellor condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and called on President Putin to end it and withdraw troops,” Hebestreit said. Scholz further asked Putin to proceed with negotiations with Ukraine on a just and lasting peace. He also told the Russian president that Germany would support Ukraine in defense against invasion as long as needed.
“Possible agreements (on Ukraine) must take into account the security interests of the Russian Federation, be based on new territorial realities and, above all, eliminate the primary causes of the conflict,” the Kremlin said, according to the Russian state agency TASS. Russia currently occupies about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea, which was annexed in the spring of 2014. Last fall, Putin also announced the annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian regions to Russia. Most of the world does not recognize these annexations. Moscow also demands that Ukraine renounce its ambitions to become part of the West, including NATO membership.
Hebestreit said that Scholz telephoned Ukrainian President Zelensky before the meeting with Putin. At the same time, he agreed with him on another phone call after he has agreed with Putin. According to Reuters, Zelenskyy was not in favor of the phone call between Scholz and Putin and told the chancellor that it would only help Putin get out of isolation and thus ultimately continue the war.
According to ČTK information from German government sources, Scholz during the meeting with Putin condemned above all Russian airstrikes on civilian infrastructure. He also emphasized that sending North Korean soldiers to Russia on combat missions against Ukraine is a serious escalation and expansion of the conflict. He told the Russian president that Moscow had not achieved any of its war aims in Ukraine. As for German support for Ukraine, the chancellor described it as long-term and unwavering, so Russia cannot count on time being on its side.
Putin, who with his order to invade a neighboring country unleashed the bloodiest war in Europe since the Second World War, in a phone call with Scholz, according to the Kremlin, once again claimed that “the current crisis is a direct consequence of NATO’s many years of aggressive policy aimed at creating an anti-Russian bridgehead on Ukrainian territory while ignoring interests of our country and denying the rights of the Russian-speaking population”. Putin also blamed Berlin for the “unprecedented deterioration of Russian-German relations”.
Putin and Scholz agreed to stay in touch; according to the Kremlin, the advisers of the two leaders should take care of it. In the meantime, Berlin informed the allies as well as representatives of the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance about the details of the phone call.
In recent weeks, the German media have reported on Scholz’s increased openness to talking with Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, which the Kremlin chief unleashed in February 2022 with an invasion of Ukrainian territory. Scholz has not had a direct conversation with Putin since December 2022.
At the end of October this year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow welcomes Scholz’s readiness to negotiate with the Russian president. He also stated that Putin is also open to dialogue.
In October, the German chancellor declared in the Bundestag that Berlin would continue to support Ukraine, which is defending itself against Russian military aggression. He also emphasized the willingness to negotiate a fair form of peace in Ukraine with Putin, on whose orders Russian troops invaded the neighboring country on February 24, 2022. The German chancellor stressed that he would never make decisions about the Ukrainians behind their backs and without coordination with the closest partners.
Source: www.tyden.cz
