Scholz and Putin spoke for the first time in two years

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone on Friday for the first time in almost two years, a German government source told AFP. “German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin for an hour on Friday”said this source. This is the first exchange between the two leaders since December 2022.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine and negotiate with kyiv, according to a German government statement on Friday. He called on Russia to demonstrate “willingness to begin negotiations with Ukraine with a view to a just and lasting peace” and emphasized “the EU’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine”adds the chancellery, which specifies that Olaf Scholz had previously spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Kremlin has not yet communicated about this telephone interview. President Putin has not spoken with most Western leaders since 2022, when the EU and the United States imposed massive sanctions against Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. A number of Western leaders – Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron… -, with the notable exception of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, refuse to speak to the Russian president.

“We have nothing against that”

At the beginning of November, Vladimir Putin regretted that Western leaders had “arrested” to call him. “If one of them wishes to resume contacts, I have always said it and I want to repeat it: we have nothing against that”he said at the Valdaï forum (Russia).

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, Germany has been the largest arms supplier to kyiv after the United States. This conversation comes in a very difficult context for Ukraine, which is preparing to experience its third winter under fire from Russia, with much of its energy infrastructure damaged or completely destroyed.

With Donald Trump’s American presidential victory, the question arises of the sustainability of American support, which has enabled Ukraine to resist Russian troops since February 2022.