A telephone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the war in Ukraine is unlikely but would be welcome, the Kremlin said on Thursday.
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told Russian state television that such a conversation could perhaps "allow Berlin to throw off, at least for a second, the blinkers that prevent it from soberly assessing the situation."
But Peskov said no groundwork was being laid for a conversation. He said Scholz's recent remarks about a possible telephone call was "probably about hypothetical intentions."
Peskov himself held a positive view of a such a tête-à-tête.
It is actually quite normal for leaders to talk to each other even in the most trying times, Peskov argued, adding: "And it might not be bad if such a debate took place so that they could at least hear our position first-hand."
Relations between Berlin and Moscow have severely deteriorated since Russia launched an all-out war against Ukraine. Germany supports Ukraine in its defence and demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from the neighbouring country.
Scholz had declared at the end of May that he wanted to resume talks with Putin. "My last telephone call was some time ago. But I intend to talk to Putin again in due course," he said in a newspaper interview. However, he did not specify a date for the resumption of talks.
