The leaders final spoke by phone in early December.

Berlin:

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he plans to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin “in due course”, holding out the prospect of resuming contact after a near-total breakdown in relations because the Ukraine conflict.

“My last telephone call was some time ago,” Scholz advised the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper in an interview printed Friday. “But I plan to speak to Putin again in due course.”

The leaders final spoke by phone in early December.

During that hour-long name, Scholz urged Putin to withdraw Moscow’s troops from Ukraine, whereas the Russian chief accused the West of pursuing “destructive” insurance policies.

Since then, tensions have solely escalated between Moscow and Berlin, significantly over the choice by Scholz’s authorities in January to permit German-made heavy battle tanks to be despatched to Ukraine.

In the interview, Scholz insisted that his purpose remained to “actively support Ukraine”, however “at the same to prevent a direct conflict between NATO and Russia”.

“And never to act alone, but in close coordination with our friends and allies,” he stated.

Asked concerning the prospect of halting the battle via negotiations, Scholz stated that Putin needed to perceive that the conflict couldn’t be ended by making “some kind of cold peace”.

“For instance, by turning the current front line into the new ‘border’ between Russia and Ukraine,” he stated.

“Rather it is about a fair peace, and the prerequisite for that is the withdrawal of Russian troops,” he added.

Ties between Russia and Germany plunged right into a deep freeze after Moscow despatched its forces into Ukraine in February final yr.

The invasion, and Moscow’s transfer to slash gasoline provides to Europe, hit Germany significantly onerous because the nation had come to depend on cheap Russian power to energy its financial system.

The battle has prompted Germany to drop a historically pacifist stance, with Berlin sending a barrage of weaponry to assist Kyiv in its battle in opposition to Moscow.

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