German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he is willing to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin again even though his recent phone call did not yield any results.
“It was frustrating,” Scholz told the television station's year-end review program Wednesday, “because he was just repeating his formulas over and over again.”
Despite criticism from Ukraine and Eastern European countries regarding the call, Scholz said it was necessary to make Putin understand that he could not count on Germany to reduce its support for Ukraine. .
Scholz said he urged Putin to “withdraw troops until a basis for peaceful development emerges.”
About the call, the Chancellor said: “And that must be done, and I will do it again. But we must not be in any doubt about it.”
Scholz, with his own campaign, announced Putin in mid-November, the first time since December 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Scholz of opening “Pandora's box” with the call.
