German Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to hold his first phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in nearly two years, the German weekly Die Zeit reported Tuesday, citing anonymous government sources in Berlin.
Although not yet officially requested, sources told Die Zeit that the phone call is being considered ahead of the G20 summit in Brazil this November. The report did not specify what Scholz hopes to discuss with Putin.
The Kremlin has not commented on the possibility of talks between the two leaders.
Scholz and Putin last spoke in December 2022, several months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. During that conversation, the German chancellor urged Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine and pursue a diplomatic solution to end the war.
The possible phone conversation between the two leaders comes as Ukraine finds itself under increasing pressure from the West to negotiate some kind of settlement with Russia. Ukraine’s military is struggling to restore its depleted ranks, while Russian forces continue their relentless advance in eastern Ukraine, inching closer to the logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the United States, where he had hoped to receive permission to use U.S.-supplied weapons to strike deep inside Russia, as well as secure more robust security guarantees from Kyiv’s Western allies. However, he returned home empty-handed on both issues.
