Putin shuts down peace talks: No call planned with Scholz
Vladimir Putin has refused to discuss mediation on Ukraine with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. "He refuses to accept peace and every day sends another signal in favor of war and destruction. These days, he is no longer even prepared to speak to the German chancellor on the phone," she added.
Earlier, sources in the German government told the newspaper "Die Zeit" that Scholz is considering a phone call with Putin before the G20 summit in Brazil.
Meanwhile, a representative of the German cabinet told TASS that Berlin cannot yet provide an exact date for any potential talks. "If the Chancellor deems a time appropriate, he has no hesitation in having telephone conversation with the Russian president. However, at the moment I see some reluctance when it comes to expectations of such a conversation and we have to wait a little longer," he emphasized.
Putin "is not ready" for a conversation
On Friday evening, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reiterated that Putin refused to discuss mediation on Ukraine with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. "He refuses to accept peace and every day sends another signal in favor of war and destruction. These days, he is no longer even prepared to speak to the German chancellor on the phone," she added.
The press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, claims that Putin "is ready for dialogue" and that on the German side "there were no requests [for the phone call]."
Does Scholz want to be a "hero"?
If the conversation takes place, the German chancellor will be the first leader among the main Western countries to contact Putin directly again after more than a year and a half. The last time Putin and Scholz spoke by phone was in December 2022. U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, and then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also contacted the Russian leader directly only in 2022.
In early September, a source close to the German government informed La Repubblica that "Scholz had been preparing his own plan of a peaceful settlement in Ukraine which does not rule out handing over some Ukrainian territories to Moscow."
As noted by La Repubblica, Scholz wants to go down in history as the "chancellor of peace" and play the Ukrainian card to strengthen his position after defeats in regional and European elections.
