German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is generally open to talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at finding a way to end the war in Ukraine, a government spokesperson said on Monday. “The Chancellor has repeatedly pointed out that even after the start of the war he continued to speak on the phone with Mr. Putin and would continue to do so in the future,” Steffen Hebestreit told journalists in Berlin, while adding that their last phone talk dated back to December 2022. However, he expressed skepticism whether Moscow was actually ready to enter into actual peace talks. “Everything you hear from the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin is more like statements that don't give you the impression that they are very prepared to enter into the peace negotiations constructively,” Hebestreit said. “Nevertheless, if the chancellor deems a time appropriate, he has no hesitation in having a telephone conversation with the Russian President. However, at the moment I see some reluctance when it comes to expectations of such a conversation and we have to wait a little longer,” he added. On Sunday, Scholz voiced support for inviting Russia to an international peace conference to end the war in Ukraine. Scholz told public broadcaster ZDF that during his recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, they had discussed the latest developments, as well as prospects for a new peace conference to end the war. “I think this is the moment when we have to discuss how we can get out of this war situation, and achieve peace more quickly than what it seems at the moment,” Scholz said. “There will definitely be another peace conference, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and I agree that it must also be the one that would include Russia,” he added. Zelenskyy met with Scholz last week in Frankfurt, after he participated in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany. After the meeting, Zelenskyy thanked Scholz for Germany's political and military support for Ukraine, and said they discussed preparations for a second peace conference, which is planned to be held in November. The first peace conference was held in June in Switzerland, but Russia was not invited to the meeting. More than 90 countries attended the talks, but the joint communique was supported by 80 of them. A day before the summit, Putin put forward his own peace initiative, calling on Ukraine to recognize Russia's territorial claims.
