Ukraine war: Kremlin: Putin open to talks with Scholz and Trump

After Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, Russia has once again signaled its fundamental willingness to engage in dialogue about Ukraine – including with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday rejected a Washington Post report that Putin and Trump spoke on the phone last Thursday after the US election. “There was no conversation,” Peskov said. “It’s pure fiction, it’s just false information.” However, Russia is still open to talks.

However, President Vladimir Putin does not want to be the first to call because, as he said, it was not Russia but the West that broke off contact. Last Thursday, at a public appearance in Sochi on the Black Sea, Putin congratulated Trump on his election victory and appeared open to resuming contact.

The Washington Post wrote on Sunday, citing informed people, that Trump had recommended to Putin not to escalate the war of aggression against Ukraine during the phone call on Thursday. There was initially no information about this from Trump himself. Trump also referred to the US military presence in Europe, it said, citing the anonymous sources.

The Republican Trump announced during the election campaign that he would quickly end the war in Ukraine. He hasn’t yet said how he wants to achieve this. US President Joe Biden and Ukraine fear that under Trump US military aid to Ukraine could dry up, thanks to which the Russian invasion can be repelled.

Russia welcomed Trump’s comments during the election campaign as a “positive sign”. They deserve attention, Putin emphasized. Peskov told Moscow state television that, unlike Biden, Trump had not declared that he wanted to inflict a strategic defeat on the nuclear power Russia.

Report: Apparently informed Kyiv via phone call

The Washington Post also reported that Trump encouraged further conversations during the conversation to talk about a solution to the war. The Ukrainian government was informed about the conversation and had no objections, the newspaper wrote. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tychyi said, according to local media reports, that the Ukrainian side had not been informed of such a conversation.

There has been radio silence between Biden and Putin since the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022. According to an unconfirmed report in the Wall Street Journal, Trump spoke to Putin several times as ex-president in recent years. The Kremlin had not confirmed this. Trump will be sworn in for a second term as president on January 20th.

Kremlin: So far there are no signals that Scholz will call Putin

Kremlin spokesman Peskov also announced that, despite numerous announcements from Chancellor Scholz (SPD), there have so far been no signals from Berlin for a telephone conversation with Putin. “If they say signals are coming, then we have to wait for them. So far there have been none,” he said. In principle, the Kremlin has repeatedly reiterated its willingness to hold talks between Putin and Scholz for weeks.

The Chancellor recently said on Sunday in the ARD program “Caren Miosga” that he wanted to speak to Putin again “soon” but would not do so alone. Before such a conversation, you need a lot of contacts and conversations with many others, explained Scholz. Contact should therefore also take place with the knowledge of Ukraine.

Scholz last spoke to Putin on the phone in December 2022. He had called for a diplomatic solution and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, where Russia has been waging a destructive war of aggression for more than two and a half years.

Kremlin sees nervousness in the West after Trump’s victory

Peskov said that Russia sees some nervousness in the West after Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. It would be premature to now talk about changes in positions among the Europeans. “But there are official statements from European representatives that talk about continuing their general line of providing all kinds of support. And in Russian this means pumping weapons into Ukraine to continue this war to the end,” Peskov said .