Scholz gives an insight into Putin telephone calls: Via you with the Kremlin chief

Olaf Scholz and Russia's President Putin are in regular contact.

Now the Chancellor tells how the phone calls with the head of the Kremlin go.

Berlin/Moscow – Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) gave an insight into his phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

town hall meeting

in Düsseldorf on Monday evening (March 20), Scholz spoke of regular and intensive discussions with the Kremlin boss: "These are long discussions, sometimes an hour, sometimes an hour and a half." Putin and Scholz had had a relationship since the beginning of the war phoned each other several times.

The two heads of state had their last telephone call in December.

Telephone call between Scholz and Putin: "We'll use your first name"

Putin always behaves politely on the phone.

"We use the first name," said Scholz.

The Chancellor has already emphasized the tone of the Russian interlocutor in the past: "No one is yelling on the other side of the phone," revealed the SPD politician after his first conversation with Putin after the start of the Ukraine war.

There are no language problems in the exchange between the two politicians.

Since Putin is known to speak good German, the talks will take place "sometimes in German, sometimes with a translation".

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Vladimir Putin (left) and Olaf Scholz at a joint press conference in early February 2022. (Archive photo)

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

At the town hall meeting in Düsseldorf, Scholz made it clear once again that the blatant differences of opinion between Russia and the West persist.

There would be no rapprochement from either side.

In their talks, Scholz repeatedly made it clear to Putin that "Russia has sole responsibility for the war."

The Chancellor explained this in an interview with the

newspaper.

Scholz, on the other hand, found words of praise for the cohesion and solidarity of NATO.

"We share a common political conception," says Scholz about US President Joe Biden at the

town hall meeting .

In addition, the European Union shows more community than is visible to the outside world.

Scholz insists on phone calls with Putin: "Because it is necessary"

A suitable switchboard has been set up for telephone calls between Berlin and Moscow, the Chancellor said of the special features of the talks between him and Putin.

"It's not like I'm texting and asking: do we want to go back?" His talks with Putin are always embedded in talks with Germany's allies, and it becomes clear when an exchange is due.

Scholz himself repeatedly described his talks with the Kremlin boss as necessary.

At the beginning of the year, the Chancellor emphasized in the

that he would continue to telephone Putin "because it is necessary to talk to each other".

Even if you disagree at the moment, the goal is to experience the moment “where it is possible to get out of the situation.

And that doesn't work if you don't speak," says Scholz.

Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures

Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures

Critics say Putin phone calls are "absolutely pointless"

The regular phone calls between Scholz and Putin are not popular everywhere.

After the last conversation between the two politicians, military experts in an analysis of the call accused Russia of manipulating the West so that it would make “preventive concessions” “in order to lure Russia to the negotiating table.” It also turned out that there was no real interest of negotiations on the part of Russia.

Shortly after the start of the Russian invasion, Poland also stated that the attempts at communication between Germany and Russia were “absolutely pointless”.

The regular talks would not help Kiev, but on the contrary: the phone calls would help Russia and give Putin new credibility.

List of rubrics: © Kay Nietfeld/dpa