German Chancellor: I will continue to meet with Putin

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he would continue telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Stating that the phone conversations were part of courtesy, Scholz said he and Putin had very different opinions, but stressed that despite this, they would continue negotiations.

He is feeling the negative impact on the German economy, one of the countries hardest hit by the energy crisis that began with Russia’s attempted invasion of Ukraine. German President Scholz said that they had telephone conversations with Putin, and recalled that he had many long telephone conversations with the Russian President after the war in Ukraine.

Emphasizing that their meeting was held within the bounds of courtesy, Scholz said:

“No one is shouting on the other side of the phone, and I don’t speak Russian. I once tried to learn this (Russian) for about 8 hours at a folk education center, but there was nothing left but the alphabet. But Putin speaks German very well and therefore sometimes switches to German without translating my comments.”
Pointing out that he thinks very differently with Putin, Scholz said: “Despite this, I will continue to talk to him. Because I want to see the moment when you can get out of this situation. Not without talking to each other.” used the phrase.

“100 thousand Russian soldiers could have died”
Prime Minister Scholz said that things had changed since the start of the war in terms of what Putin had said and wanted to achieve, but noted that nothing had changed in Putin’s desire to “conquer part of Ukraine’s territory by violence.”

Stating that he was sad that nothing had changed in this regard, despite the high number of casualties on the Russian side, Scholz said: “We don’t know exactly how many Russian soldiers died. But maybe 100 thousand. Compared to other wars, this is quite a lot.” gave his assessment.

Scholz had telephone conversations with Putin at various intervals after the start of the war in Ukraine. The last meeting between Putin and Scholz took place on December 2.