German chancellor says he plans to speak with Putin about Ukraine

BERLIN

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday that he is planning to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Ukraine.

“My last telephone call was some time ago. But I plan to speak with Putin again in due course,” Scholz said in an interview with the German daily Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger.

He underlined that Germany and its Western partners would continue to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“Russia needs to understand that it cannot be about concluding some kind of cold peace - for example by turning the current front line into the new border between Russia and Ukraine,” Scholz said.

“Rather, it is about a fair peace, and the prerequisite for this is the withdrawal of Russian troops,” he added.

The German chancellor did not give a clear answer when asked whether this would also apply to the Crimean peninsula, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.

“It is not up to us to formulate what agreements Ukraine wants to reach,” he said and underlined that a peace agreement will ultimately be concluded between the authorities in Moscow and Kyiv.

Scholz also declined to comment on whether a regime change in Russia is needed to reach peace through negotiations.

“I do not like such speculative questions,” he said.