The German Chancellor Olaf Scholzaddressed personally this Friday, for the first time in two years, the Russian president, Vladimir Putinto demand a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine and warn him that a deployment of North Korean soldiers against the Slavic country would imply a “serious escalation“in the conflict.
The conversation, which lasted an hour according to German Chancellery sources, follows the one Scholz had last Wednesday with the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski. The purpose of Scholz’s call, according to his spokesman, was to urge the Kremlin leader to end the “war of aggression” against kyiv and withdraw his troops from Ukrainian territory.
Kremlin sources considered, in response to the statement issued by Berlin, that the conversation with Scholz did not imply a position regarding the peace plan proposed by Moscow last June. A peace agreement must adapt, according to Russia, to “the current territorial reality.” That is to say, it implies kyiv’s renunciation of claiming the occupied territories.
The last time Scholz spoke with Putin was in December 2022. The last personal meeting between the two leaders occurred a week before the start of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, in February of that year.
Attacks against civil infrastructure
According to sources from the German Chancellery, Scholz this Friday explicitly condemned the air attacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and warned against a deployment of North Korean soldiers in Russia on Ukrainian territory.
The conversation occurs at a moment of political weakness of Scholz, who is heading towards a vote of confidence on December 16, with the intention of losing it, thereby favoring the calling of early elections for February 23 of next year.
The German political crisis occurs after the collapse of its tripartite party between social democrats, greens and liberals. The trigger was, according to Scholz, the refusal of his liberal partners to release the debt brake, which in his opinion compromises the aid destined for Ukraine. Germany is the second largest contributor, after the United States, to military, humanitarian and financial aid to kyiv.
