Germany's Scholz Vows to Continue Talks with Putin

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz considers it necessary to continue telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I will have telephone conversations with Putin again as it is necessary to talk to each other," Scholz said in an interview with Der Tagesspiegel daily published on Sunday.

The German chancellor explained that the tone of such talks is "not impolite", despite the complete divergence" of views on the situation, referring to the Russian special operation in Ukraine in this context as a terrible and senseless war.

"Sometimes the issue was about particular questions of a prisoner swap, grain export, Zaporizhzhia NPP," Scholz noted. 

However, "I consider it important to always bring the conversation back to a particular topic on the way for the world to get out of this awful state. The conditions for that are clear - the pullout of Russian troops," he added.

The German Chancellor and the Russian President held their last phone call on December 2, 2022.