Scholz admits his conversation with Putin was ‘frustrating’ but wants to call him again

BERLIN Dec. 12 (DPA/EP) –

The chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, has described as “frustrating” the telephone conversation he had in mid-November with the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, although he has defended himself against criticism: “It had to be done and I will do it again “.

Among those who questioned this conversation, the first between Scholz and Putin since December 2022, is the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, who accused the German chancellor of opening “Pandora’s box” by building bridges with Moscow while the military invasion continues.

Scholz, however, believes that it was appropriate to make it clear to Putin that Berlin would never back down in its support for kyiv, as he explained to a television channel when taking stock of the year. Likewise, he explained that he urged Putin to “withdraw troops” from Ukraine to give rise to some type of “peaceful” resolution.

However, according to Scholz, his interlocutor limited himself to “repeating all his formulas again”, implying that the Russian president did not budge from his demands or arguments to justify his troops entering Ukrainian territory in February 2022.

Zelensky also publicly clashed with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Wednesday, following a new conversation between the latter and Putin. The Hungarian president rebuked the Ukrainian president on social media and accused him of not taking into account Budapest’s proposals for a possible Christmas truce.