According to domestic media reports, after the end of the visit to Kiev, German Chancellor Scholz went to Moscow on the 15th to hold a dialogue with Russian President Putin. Scholz welcomed Russia's announcement of a partial withdrawal from the Russian-Ukrainian border and said russia was needed to establish European security.
On February 15, Scholz visited Moscow for the first time as German chancellor to meet with Putin, and the ongoing crisis on the Russian-Ukrainian border dominated the agenda. Just the day before, he had visited Kiev and met with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy.
In his meeting with Putin, Scholz said: "The most important thing is that we manage relations between countries through friendly consultations with each other. He added that he was pleased that the two leaders would be able to meet face-to-face.
At a joint press conference after the meeting, Scholz said, "As leaders of nations and governments, we have an absolute responsibility to ensure that there is no war in Europe." Scholz added that a high-level dialogue between Russia and Germany is essential to achieve stable progress.
Putin said at a news conference: "We are ready for further cooperation. We are ready to move forward on the track of negotiations. Putin also added that Germany is one of Russia's most important partners and expressed its intention to cooperate further with Berlin. He highlighted the economic relationship between the two countries, with Germany being Russia's second-largest trading partner after China.
On the Russian-Ukrainian issue, Scholz said in the talks that the massing of troops on the Ukrainian border can be seen as a threat, but he added: "We are now hearing that more troops are withdrawing, which is a positive signal and we hope that more troops will withdraw later." He told reporters: "For us Germans, for all Europeans, it is perfectly clear that the establishment of stable security cannot be against Russia, but with Russia." We are unanimous in this regard, whether it is NATO or the European Union. ”
Scholz added: "The dialogue cannot end in a dead end, that is a disaster for everyone, it is important to take the diplomatic route to avoid war in Europe." ”
According to the media, Scholz told German-speaking reporters after the press conference: "All relevant people know that Ukraine's accession to NATO is not on the agenda. It would be absurd that we cannot have a military conflict because of an issue that is not on the agenda. ”
In response to a reporter's question about the possibility of war, Putin explicitly replied: "We do not want war in Europe." ”
On NATO, Putin said: "As our counterparts in NATO have always argued, countries have the right to join military alliances, but it is equally important that their own security cannot be maintained at the expense of the security of other countries." ”
It is worth noting that Scholz did not take a position on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, saying only that there would be consequences. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is a sensitive topic in current German-Russian relations, and the United States has repeatedly asked Germany to close the pipeline.
Putin has made it clear that Russia is willing to continue transporting gas through Ukraine after 2024, and That Russia is a "reliable supplier" of energy. Putin said the dialogue between the two mainly revolved around the security situation in Europe and the crisis in Ukraine, and the talks were held in a pragmatic atmosphere.
At the same time, the United States seems to be unwilling and continues to fire on the situation in Russia and Ukraine. Julianne Smith, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, told reporters: "There is no evidence that the situation has eased. The United States and NATO are ready to sit down for dialogue with Russia and hope to de-escalate the situation. However, there is no evidence that Russia claims that troops are withdrawing from the Ukrainian border. We don't have any evidence that this is happening, and we want to take a step back and take some time to validate that claim. ”
Asked about NATO's unity and Germany's role in Russia, Smith said: "At this moment, when we are all thinking about Russia's 'aggressive' behavior and what Russia is doing to undermine European security more broadly, it seems to me that there is no doubt that we are united as an alliance." ”