The phone call between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, opened Pandora’s box, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi pointed out on Friday. He claims that such communication only undermines efforts to isolate the Russian leader. TASR informs about it according to a Reuters report.
“Maybe there will be more conversations, more phone calls now. Just a lot of words. And this is exactly what Putin has wanted for a long time – it is extremely important for him to break his isolation,” Zelenskyy said in his evening speech.
He confirmed that Scholz had informed him in advance of his plan to speak with Putin. According to a Reuters source, Zelensky warned the German chancellor before this first phone call between the two of them since December 2022.
Scholz warned Putin against his offensive war against Ukraine
According to the spokesman of the German government, Scholz condemned the “Russian war of aggression against Ukraine” and called on the Russian president to end it and withdraw his troops. He emphasized that Russia must be willing to negotiate with Ukraine in order to achieve a just and lasting peace. He also confirmed Germany’s determination to support Ukraine in its “defense against Russian aggression as long as necessary”.
In the phone call, Putin insisted on his territorial demands and, in connection with possible agreements to end the war in Ukraine, declared that Russia’s security interests must be taken into account and the root causes of the conflict eliminated.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov subsequently added that Scholz’s position on the issue of Ukraine is well known because, according to him, “European politicians repeat it as a mantra several times a day.”
In its statement, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the phone call with the Russian president as an “attempt to make a concession”, which Moscow considers a sign of weakness.
“The talks only give Putin hope of easing his international isolation. What is needed are concrete, decisive steps that will force him to peace, not persuasion and attempts at concessions, which he considers a sign of weakness and uses them to his advantage,” the ministry in Kyiv said.
