BERLIN

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Tuesday his country is generally open to talks with Russia about a sustainable peace in Ukraine but rejected making "concessions."

“First and foremost, it must, of course, be Ukraine that speaks. But we are also prepared to talk. But we will not arrive in Moscow and make further concessions. We will not do that,” said Wadephul at the Ukraine Forum “Cafe Kyiv” organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin.

“If the shooting stops, if there is a serious willingness to talk, then we will certainly be there. But we are not begging him (Russian President Vladimir Putin), to put it bluntly. Instead, we expect that one of the reasonable offers will finally be accepted,” he added.

Wadephul rejected calls from within the co-ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD), for example, to approach Putin with offers of talks for a ceasefire. “There is no shortage of channels for dialogue. But no channel helps if he does not want to talk.”

The foreign minister has repeatedly called for intensified pressure on Moscow to agree to ceasefire talks.

"The German position is very clear: we must show firmness now, we must support Ukraine sustainably, and we must do exactly what we did last year — continue to increase pressure on Russia," Wadephul said ahead of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday.

"That is why we are working intensively on the 20th sanctions package, and I am also confident that we will be successful at the end of the day," he added.