President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday that Russia was ready to consider energy deals if Berlin was interested, according to the Kremlin, in their first telephone conversation since December 2022.
The Kremlin said the two men had a “detailed and frank exchange of views” on Ukraine and that Mr. Putin had outlined the same position he has been defending for months: any peace agreement must take into account of Moscow's security interests and based on “new territorial realities”, referring to the fact that Russian troops control a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Mr. Putin also spoke of an “unprecedented deterioration” in relations between the two countries, for which he blamed Germany's unfriendly actions, according to a Kremlin statement.
“He stressed that Russia has always strictly adhered to its conventional and contractual obligations in the energy sector and is ready for mutually beneficial cooperation if the German side is interested in it.
Germany relied heavily on Russian gas before the war, but direct deliveries stopped when the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea exploded in 2022.
Germany and other European Union countries imposed successive waves of sanctions on Russia following the war and took steps to wean off their dependence on Russian oil and gas.
On Ukraine, the Kremlin said Putin's position was the one it took in June, when he said the war could end if kyiv gave up its ambitions. screws of NATO and ceded the entirety of four regions claimed by Russia. Ukraine rejected these conditions, saying they amounted to capitulation.
“Possible agreements must take into account the interests of the Russian Federation in the field of security, arise from new territorial realities and, above all, eliminate the root causes of the conflict,” the Kremlin said.
