One phone call won’t make Putin listen to Scholz

This afternoon, for the first time in nearly two years, the German chancellor Olaf Scholz picked up the phone to speak with Russian president Vladimir Putin. The two leaders reportedly spoke for approximately an hour, with Scholz calling on Putin to end the ‘Russian war of aggression in Ukraine’ and withdraw his troops from the country. Scholz also made another demand of Putin, that ‘Russia must show a willingness to negotiate with Ukraine – with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace’.

During the call, Scholz reportedly condemned Russia’s continued striking of civilian targets in Ukraine and raised the subject of the 50,000 or so North Korean soldiers believed to have been shipped to the Ukrainian front to help prop up the Russian army’s advance. Scholz is said to have warned Putin that keeping North Korean troops in the fight would lead to an escalation of the conflict. Ending the call, the pair apparently agreed to ‘stay in touch’.

Today’s phone call between the pair is not a surprise: German government sources let it be known at the end of September that Scholz wanted to speak to Putin again for the first time since December 2022. Unlike