German Chancellor Scholz called Putin for the first time in two years

“This afternoon, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The Chancellor condemned the military operation in Ukraine and called on Putin to end it and withdraw troops from the country,” the statement said.

Scholz also called on Moscow to negotiate with kyiv to achieve a “just and lasting peace” and also emphasized Germany’s “unwavering determination” to support Ukraine “as long as it is necessary,” the German Cabinet said.

Before the conversation with the Russian leader, the German chancellor spoke by phone with the president of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, and Scholz intends to call him after the conversation with Putin, the government added.

At the time of this publication there was no information on the Kremlin website about the conversation between the Russian president and the German chancellor.

Reuters noted that the conversation between Scholz and Putin lasted an hour; The last time the heads of state spoke directly was in December 2022. Earlier, Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said the president was scheduled to hold an international telephone conversation today. With whom exactly, Peskov did not specify.