Ukraine has expressed concern at the first phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Vladimir Putin has said that NATO should accept „new territorial realities“ ahead of any talks to end the war he started, during a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that has sparked concern from Kyiv.
In the first call between the leaders since December 2022, Putin repeated Kremlin rhetoric that the „current crisis“ was caused by „many years of aggressive NATO policy aimed at creating an anti-Russian bridgehead on Ukrainian territory“, according to a Kremlin readout.
Putin also noted how NATO and the West were guilty of „ignoring the interests of our country in the field of security and trampling on the rights of Russian-speaking residents.“ Newsweek has contacted the German Foreign Ministry for comment.
Any negotiations should take into account Russian interests and „proceed from new territorial realities, and most importantly, eliminate the root causes of the conflict.
