Trump and Putin discuss Ukraine, Scholz emphasizes cooperation – DW – November 11, 2024

US President-elect Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked him not to escalate the war in Ukraine Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Trump spoke with Putin by phone from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, while he also spoke with other European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom he spoke on Wednesday shortly after confirming his election victory .

Trump has criticized the extent to which the Joe Biden administration has agreed to provide military and financial support to Kiev, while the incoming president has vowed to end the war quickly, although without specifying how.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it was not informed in advance about the phone call between Trump and Putin.

“We do not comment on private conversations between President Trump and other world leaders,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung said when asked about contact between the two leaders.

Kremlin: “At least he’s talking about peace”

The Washington PostCiting several people familiar with the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Trump reported that Trump reminded Putin of the United States' significant military presence in Europe.

The post also reported that Trump was interested in holding further talks soon to talk about the “solution” to the war, referring to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.

On Trump's return to the Oval Office, Moscow spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday: “The signals are positive… At least he is talking about peace and not confrontation.”

The Biden administration, which will remain in power until Trump's inauguration on January 20, has said it will send as much aid to Ukraine as possible during its term.

On Sunday, Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the White House's goal is to “put Ukraine in the best possible position on the battlefield so that ultimately they are in the best possible position at the negotiating table.” Sullivan also confirmed that Biden supports Trump I was invited to the White House for talks on Wednesday.

“You dance with whoever is in the room,” says Scholz about the prospect of working with Trump

Meanwhile, Olaf Scholz's spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said the German chancellor spoke to Trump on Sunday evening in her first phone call since Trump's victory in the presidential election.

Scholz offers Trump the opportunity to “continue decades of successful cooperation between the governments of both countries,” said Hebestreit.

Scholz appears unimpressed by the prospect of future cooperation with US President-elect Donald Trump and says one has to take political situations as they come.

“My principle is always, if I may put it so casually: you dance with those who are in the room. And that also applies to the future President of the USA,” said Scholz in a talk show on Sunday evening on the public broadcaster ARD.

“I’m never naive, but I’m also a bit relaxed,” he said. During his first term as president, Trump criticized Berlin for inadequate military spending, the country's trade surplus and the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Scholz pointed out that Germany now spends 2% of its gross national product on defense. This complies with NATO guidelines.

The chancellor also made it clear that he expects Trump, who is due to return to the White House in January, to stick to outgoing President Joe Biden's commitment to station US medium-range missiles in Germany.

“This is an agreement we made with the United States. It is in our mutual interest. That’s why I want to accept it,” said Scholz.

Musk's “stupid” comment is rejected by Scholz

Scholz also rejected recent criticism from Trump supporter and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who mocked the chancellor over the collapse of Germany's governing coalition.

Musk had written in German on the social media platform X, which he owns: “Olaf is a fool.”

When asked if that bothered him, Scholz replied: “I’m honored.”

“I don’t comment on the tech billionaires,” said the Chancellor. “He is not a head of state, even if one sometimes gets the impression that some technology companies are more powerful than states.”

Scholz must face a vote of confidence in the Bundestag before the end of the year before new elections take place at the beginning of 2025.

jsi/lo (AFP, dpa, Reuters)