German Chancellor Scholz will meet with Russian President Putin in the near future

Olaf Scholz. Photo: Omer Messinger / Keystone Press Agency / Global Look Press

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke about the planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview with ZDF TV channel.

The German politician noted that he will meet with the Russian leader in the near future. “As you know, we always inform you on time when clear plans appear,” he stressed. According to the Chancellor, he is actively working with all allies and partners in the European Union on the issue of Ukraine, adding that “hardly any other topic takes more time.”

Of course, I have also spoken with the Russian president, and we are carefully preparing everything that will be necessary

Olaf Scholzkanzler of Germany

The telephone conversation between Putin and Scholz took place at the end of December last year. During the conversation, the Russian leader informed the German Chancellor about proposals for security guarantees that exclude further NATO advance to the east and the deployment of strike weapons systems in countries bordering Russia.

The revival of the “Normandy format”

In the same interview, Scholz expressed the opinion that in recent weeks it has been possible to revive the “Normandy format”, in which, in addition to Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France are taking part. He stressed that many negotiations took place in this format.

The Chancellor called the situation on the border of Ukraine very serious. “It is impossible not to see that a lot of soldiers have arrived at the Ukrainian border. This may be a prerequisite for such a military action,” he suggested. The words and intentions in this matter should be extremely clear, including the fact that “a threat to territorial integrity and sovereignty, a military invasion would be costly,” Scholz said. “And I think this signal was understood,” the politician added.

Scholz also stressed that Germany had done everything possible for the negotiations to take place, but it did not come to further escalation. So, in January, a representative of the German Defense Ministry said that Germany would not supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, and the country’s position on this remains unchanged. Scholz himself and Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock have publicly stated this more than once.

In December 2021, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel personally refused to supply weapons to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. In Germany, it was considered that such supplies could not help resolve the conflict in the Donbass.

High-level negotiations

On February 2, French President Emmanuel Macron also allowed the possibility of a meeting with Vladimir Putin. According to him, the probability that the meeting will take place depends on the progress in discussions in the coming hours. “But I’m not ruling anything out,” he added. Before that, Putin himself and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke about Macron’s visit to Moscow in the near future.

On the same day, the Russian leader had a telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. During the conversation, Putin stated about Kiev’s chronic sabotage of the Minsk agreements, and also noted NATO’s unwillingness to adequately respond to Russia’s concerns. In turn, Johnson was concerned about Russia’s “hostile activities” on the border with Ukraine, and also called “any further invasion of Russia” on the territory of Ukraine a “tragic miscalculation.”