The Kremlin: Putin is ready to make contacts with the German chancellor

The Kremlin reacted to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s announcement of his intention to continue trying to work towards ending the war in Ukraine, within the framework of direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday that there were no concrete plans currently for another phone conversation between Scholz and Putin, however stressing that “Putin remains open to any contacts”.

“I will also call Putin again, because it’s necessary to talk to each other,” the German chancellor announced in remarks to the German Tagesspiegel newspaper on Sunday.

The German chancellor continued, saying: “It is up to Putin with regard to withdrawing troops from Ukraine and ending this horrific and senseless war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives,” and indicated that the numbers of victims mentioned may only be estimates.

Scholz added that as long as Russia will continue the war with relentless aggression, the current situation won’t change, and added that it’s true that phone conversations with Putin aren’t inappropriate in their tone, but it is always made clear that Putin’s desire to keep parts of from a neighboring country isn’t acceptable.

The Chancellor of Germany continued that sometimes the phone conversations revolved around concrete issues related to the exchange of prisoners, grain exports from Ukraine and the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

“It’s important for me that the conversations always return to the actual topic, how does the world get out of this terrible situation?”

The Chancellor of Germany continued, “The condition for achieving this is clear… The withdrawal of Russian forces”.

With regard to new demands for the supply of fighters to Ukraine, after Germany pledged to deliver Leopard tanks to it, Scholz warned against entering a continuous bidding war when it comes to weapons systems.

The German chancellor concluded: “Any German chancellor who takes the constitutional oath seriously must do everything possible to ensure that Russia’s war against Ukraine doesn’t turn into a war between Russia and NATO,” stressing that this won’t happen, and that such an escalation won’t be allowed”.

He added that there is agreement on this matter within the federal government, and said that the German Foreign Minister, also sees this”.

It’s noteworthy that the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, caused an uproar with her statements last Tuesday at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and called for solidarity among the Western allies with the following words: “We’re fighting a war against Russia, not against each other”.

However, the German Foreign Ministry confirmed that Baerbock didn’t meant the participation of Germany or its allies in the war.