After announcing the supply of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed that the phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin are important, indicating the need to continue them.
“I will hold phone conversations again with Putin, because it is necessary to continue talking,” Scholz said in an interview with the German newspaper “Tagesspiegel”, published on Sunday.
“not impolite”
According to him, the tone during such conversations is “not impolite”, despite the “complete divergence” of views on the situation.
In this context, Scholz described the war in Ukraine as “terrible and senseless”.
‘Need to withdraw’
The German chancellor added: “Sometimes the conversation was about issues related to the exchange of prisoners, the export of grain, the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, but it is important for me that the conversation always returns to a specific topic – how can the world get out of this terrible situation? The conditions for this are clear.” The withdrawal of Russian forces.
It is reported that the last phone conversation between Schultz and Putin was on December 2, 2022.
Send tanks to Kyiv
The German Chancellor had announced last Wednesday that Germany would send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and that European countries that had bought tanks from Germany would be allowed to send them to Kyiv.