German chancellor told Western leaders about plans to call Putin – Bild

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. German chancellor Olaf Scholz had notified Western leaders about his plans to call Russia’s Vladimir Putin a month ago, according to Bild newspaper.

“The Putin-Scholz conversation was agreed with partners when US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were visiting Berlin on October 18. Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also informed about it,” according to the Bild report.

The purpose of the call, according to Bild, was to find out whether Putin is ready for talks against the backdrop of the US elections and the upcoming G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

According to Bild, Scholz spoke to Putin in German and the Russian leader didn’t require a translator. Putin, however, spoke in Russian and the German chancellor had to have a translator present.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the German chancellor's phone call with Russia's leader on Friday opened a "Pandora's box" that undermined efforts to isolate Vladimir Putin and end the war in Ukraine with a "fair peace,” according to Reuters.

"Olaf's call, in my opinion, is a Pandora's box. Now there may be other conversations, other calls " Zelenskiy said.

"... this is exactly what Putin has long wanted: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation and to conduct ordinary negotiations that will not end in anything."

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke by phone on Friday, their first direct contact in almost two years, RT reported citing a readout of the call issued by the Kremlin.

According to the report the Ukraine crisis was the primary topic of the conversation.

During Friday’s call, which Moscow said was initiated by the German side, the two leaders held a “detailed and frank exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine,” according to RT.

Putin told Scholz that the current crisis was "a direct result of NATO’s long-standing aggressive policy aimed at creating an anti-Russian bridgehead on Ukrainian territory, while ignoring our country’s interests in the field of security and trampling on the rights of Russian-speaking residents,” RT quoted the Kremlin as saying in the readout.

German officials also confirmed the talks, reporting that during the phone call, Scholz urged Putin to end the Ukraine conflict and “withdraw his troops.”

RT cited German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit as saying that the Chancellor “insisted on Russia’s readiness to negotiate with Ukraine in order to achieve a fair and lasting peace” and spoke of Berlin’s “unwavering determination” to support Kiev “as long as necessary.”