German Chancellor Olaf Scholz walks to meet with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the Chancellery for bilateral talks, in Berlin, Germany, November 15, 2024. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his conversation with Vladimir Putin on Friday had given no indication of a shift in the Russian President's thinking on the war in Ukraine, but defended his much-criticised decision to phone the Kremlin.
Scholz's hour-long call with Putin, their first direct communication in almost two years, comes three months before snap elections in which the wildly unpopular chancellor faces a stiff challenge from populists of left and right who are demanding a resumption of diplomacy.
