Kremlin: Putin open 'to contacts' with Germany's Scholz - RIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, January 27, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to contacts with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz though has no phone call scheduled with him, a Kremlin spokesman told the state RIA Novosti news agency on Sunday.

Germany, previously the West's main holdout on providing modern battle tanks to Ukraine to help it fight off Russia's invasion, said last week it would send 14 of its Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv and also approve Leopard shipments by allied European countries. The announcement, followed shortly afterwards by a U.S. pledge of M1 Abrams tanks to Kyiv, infuriated the Kremlin.