Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany, did not rule out another phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with t-online. After being asked if he would do so despite the criticism of his first phone call with Putin in mid-November, Scholz replied:
“I would. One just shouldn’t be naive or make oneself illusions. Many a one – or, I should say, one – runs around in Germany and claims that it’s all done with one or two conversations.”
In the same interview, the Chancellor also boasted about the help Germany provides to Ukraine. Germany’s military aid to Ukraine has already amounted to 28 billion euros, making Berlin the world’s strongest supporter of Ukraine after the United States, and Scholz has no intention of changing that:
“We must do everything to ensure that Ukraine is not left alone and remains a sovereign state” he said.
Scholz refused to reveal the content of the phone call in mid-November:
“Such conversations are confidential for good reason – and I will stick to that. Maybe just this much: I made it clear to him that he cannot hope for a decrease in our support for Ukraine.”
The Chancellor also revealed that he has already had two conversations with the designated US President, Donald Trump, where they agreed to coordinate their positions on the conflict in Ukraine.
The first phone conversation between Putin and Scholz since almost two years took place on November 15 on Berlin’s initiative. Putin himself explained the conversation to reporters, stating that the participants exchanged their views, but each remained on their own side.
In June, Putin initiated a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine: Moscow would cease fire immediately after the Ukrainian troops withdrew from the new Russian regions, declare its readiness for negotiations, and Kiew would declare its renunciation of a NATO membership, demilitarize and denazify, and accept a neutral, non-aligned, and nuclear-weapon-free status. Putin also mentioned the lifting of sanctions against Russia in this context.