Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their first telephone conversation in nearly two years on November 15 as the war in Ukraine appears to be entering its end game.

Scholz urged Putin to withdraw his forces from Ukraine and end the war. The hour-long phone conversation, initiated by Berlin, focused on the war’s trajectory and its geopolitical implications, according to German government sources.

Speaking after the call, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit stated that Scholz urged Putin to engage in negotiations with Ukraine aimed at achieving “a just and lasting peace,” echoing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy words.

During the discussion, the Chancellor reiterated Germany’s condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and specifically criticised Russian airstrikes targeting civilian infrastructure.

“Scholz denounced the escalation caused by the deployment of North Korean soldiers in Russia for combat against Ukraine,” a government source added, describing it as a significant intensification of the conflict.

According to these sources, Scholz also highlighted that none of Russia’s war objectives had been achieved and underscored Germany’s unwavering commitment to supporting Ukraine in its defensive efforts.

The call comes after Donald Trump was re-elected president on November 5 and has promised to bring the war to an end. At the same time Ukraine fatigue has been building for more than a year and as Europe slides into recession Germany has been forced to cut aid to Ukraine for this year in half to €4bn. Western aid in general is drying up and Ukraine is in a slow retreat on the battlefield, leaving Putin in a strong negotiating position.

Putin’s Response

The Kremlin’s read out of the conversation revealed no significant shift in Putin’s stance, who again insisted that the allies accept the “realities on the ground,” which has widely been interpreted to mean that any ceasefire deal will include Kyiv’s agreement to cede a significant amount of territory.

The Russian president reiterated Moscow’s demand that any agreement to end the war must reflect the “new territorial realities,” a reference to the four regions annexed by Russia last year and the territory it has gained since. Russia currently occupies about 20% of Ukraine’s land.

“Possible agreements should consider the security interests of the Russian Federation, be based on the new territorial realities, and address the root causes of the conflict,” the Kremlin stated after the call, in an oblique reference to the Russia’s long standing demand that it be given “iron-clad legal guarantees” that Ukraine will return to neutrality and never be admitted to Nato. Putin also criticised Nato’s policies, accusing the alliance of turning Ukraine into a staging ground for operations against Russia.

Former Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg dismissed similar demands earlier this year, calling them “not a peace proposal but a blueprint for further aggression and occupation.”

Mixed reactions to Scholz’s initiative

Bankova (Ukraine’s equivalent of the Kremlin) objected to the call, saying it gives the Kremlin a platform to push its narrative and legitimises Putin, who it says is a terrorist.

Zelenskiy warned in a video address that such calls risked reducing Russia’s international isolation without yielding substantive results. “This allows Russia to continue its policies unchanged, leading to exactly this war,” Zelenskiy said.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry was similarly sceptical, stating that “talks with the Russian dictator bring no value to achieving a just peace.” It added that tangible actions, such as the withdrawal of Russian forces, were the only measures likely to pressure Putin into meaningful negotiations.

Domestically, Scholz has faced criticism over his approach to Ukraine, with opponents arguing that his government’s measured stance sometimes appears indecisive. Nevertheless, the Chancellor has emphasised his readiness to engage diplomatically when the timing is appropriate.

“I am a responsible politician,” Scholz said in a recent ARD interview. “I don’t act unilaterally. A conversation with Putin requires extensive coordination and dialogue with many others.”

Broader geopolitical context

The timing of the call coincides with the upcoming G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, where Scholz is expected to engage in discussions with key global leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping. While Putin has opted to skip the summit, citing logistical reasons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend. Putin is under an international arrest warrant for child abduction, issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Brazilian government, a signatory to the governing Rome Statues, would be obliged to arrest him should he attend in person.

Despite strained Western-Russian relations, the G20 remains one of the few forums where Moscow and Nato members continue to interact at senior levels. Scholz is not scheduled to meet Lavrov but will likely address the Ukraine conflict during talks with Xi, a close ally of Putin.

Scholz’s overture to Putin also comes against the backdrop of increased talk of a ceasefire deal sparked by Trump’s return. The Chancellor recently held discussions with Zelenskiy and is reportedly exploring the possibility of hosting a second Ukraine peace summit following the failed Swiss peace summit held on June 16-17.

Diplomatic channels strained but open

Scholz and Putin last spoke by phone in December 2022, and their last in-person meeting occurred shortly before the invasion of Ukraine, when the two leaders sat across a famously long table in the Kremlin. Since the war began, direct communication between Western leaders and Putin has been minimal, with dialogue frequently breaking down over irreconcilable positions.

Despite this, both sides agreed to keep communication channels open, according to the German government and Kremlin sources. “Further contact was agreed upon,” Hebestreit confirmed, while the Kremlin noted discussions would continue via advisers.

Scholz’s call was seen by some as testing the water for the start of ceasefire negotiations. The Kremlin has signalled repeatedly this year that it is willing to start talks, but insists they have held in the framework of the Istanbul peace deal agreed in 2022, but abandoned by Zelenskiy thanks to US and UK pressure to “fight on.”

Progress was made to the point where the two sides had agreed to open the first round of negotiation on a deal to end Russia’s targeting of Ukraine’s energy capacity in Qatar in August. But that initiative was abandoned after Kyiv’s Kursk incursion occupying a large swath of Russian territory. Putin has also said that no talks can resume until Ukraine leaves Russian soil and has reinforced the Armed Forces of Russia (AFR) with some 10,000 North Korean soldiers in the battle for Kursk.

Berlin has been lukewarm on the war in Ukraine. While it remains the largest supplier of funds and weapons, Scholz has refused to supply Ukraine with its best and most powerful arms, including the Taurus cruise missiles. Berlin has also refused to sign off on any of the conditions Zelenskiy was demanding in his recent victory plan, which includes fast-track membership of Nato and permission to use Western missiles to strike targets inside of Russia. The Kremlin’s insistence on retaining occupied territories remains a non-starter for Kyiv, which categorically refuses to accept such terms.

“The conversation signals an effort to keep dialogue alive, but without shifts in either party’s fundamental positions, substantive progress remains elusive,” one German diplomatic source said reports tagesschau.