German Chancellor Scholz wants to talk to Putin because the right time is coming

"The right time" for a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin will come soon, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with ARD.

Photo: kremlin.ru by Пресс-служба Кремля, PDM

Scholz and Purin last spoke on December 2, 2022. Subsequently, Scholz has repeatedly said that he will speak to the Russian leader only when the "right time" comes.

During the interview, journalists asked the chancellor when this "right time" would come. "Soon," Scholz replied, Stern reports.

On October 1, German publication Die Zeit said with reference to government sources that Scholz was going to contact Putin ahead of the G20 summit in Brazil on November 18-19. He may thus become the first Western leader who will talk to Putin directly for the first time in over 18 months.

Last week, the ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Scholz's SPD Party), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens collapsed in Germany. Scholz fired Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner, after which other ministers from this party also decided to resign.

Germany will thus hold early parliamentary elections in January 2025, but not in September.

Kremlin: Trump did not call Putin

On November 10, The Washington Post reported with reference to its sources that Trump and Putin had a conversation during which Donald Trump allegedly made it clear that he would support an agreement in which Russia would retain new regions.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied such reports.

US President-elect Donald Trump did not hold telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov said.

As The WP wrote, Trump advised the Russian leader "not to escalate" the armed conflict in Ukraine and reminded him of USA's military presence in Europe.

"This is the most obvious example of the quality of information that they publish these days, even in fairly authoritative publications. This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, a hoax," he said.

Details

Olaf Scholz (born (1958-06-14)14 June 1958) is a German politician who has been the ninth chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as vice chancellor in the fourth Merkel cabinet and as Federal Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2021. He was also First Mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018, deputy leader of the SPD from 2009 to 2019, and Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2007 to 2009.