German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was ready to discuss with Russian “President” Vladimir Putin ways to resolve the military conflict in Ukraine. According to Scholz, the “peace summit” on Ukraine, which was previously held in Switzerland, showed: another such conference is needed, but already with the participation of Russia. “In this regard, it is right that when we are asked whether we will talk to the Russian ‘president’, we say yes,” Scholz said during a speech in the Bundestag.
He emphasized: the time has come when, in addition to full support for Kyiv, Western countries must do everything possible to ensure that the fighting “will not continue forever.” At the same time, the chancellor noted that negotiations with the Russian side should be conducted in coordination with Germany’s closest allies and that decisions should not be taken “behind Ukraine’s back”.
In early October, Die Zeit’s sources in the German government said that Scholz planned to call Putin in the coming weeks to discuss Ukraine. However, the Russian “president” appeared “not ready to talk” to the German chancellor, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock later said. Scholz had previously called for a quicker end to the war in Ukraine and to start discussing a peace agreement with Russia. According to La Repubblica, he has prepared a plan to end the war in Ukraine, which does not rule out the transfer of part of the occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia. As the newspaper noted, Scholz wants to go down in history as a “peace chancellor” and “play the Ukrainian card” to strengthen his own position in German domestic politics.
