German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that he currently has no plans for telephone conversations with the Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, noting that similar contacts in the past have not led to de-escalation of the situation in Ukraine, UNN writes with reference to DW.
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As an example, Merz, in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, recalled the visit of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Moscow in July 2024 and the conversation of former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with Putin.
"The last visit of the Hungarian prime minister to Moscow was met by Russia with heavy bombing of Kyiv and a hospital," Merz noted, quoted by dpa. "The last phone call with my predecessor was followed by the bombing of a children's hospital. So if that's the result of such phone calls, I would refrain from them for a long time."
Answering a question about whether he believes US President Donald Trump is distancing himself from Putin, the German Chancellor said: "The US President is showing increasing skepticism and becoming more critical. This is a process."
"There is great agreement in Europe in assessing this war. I believe that President Trump is coming closer to this assessment," Merz said.
He also noted that the US Senate is currently actively discussing the possibility of introducing new sanctions against Russia, the final decision on which will be made by Trump. "I am doing everything possible for the European Union and the USA to work in unison on imposing tougher sanctions," Merz emphasized.
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