Kremlin says no request for Putin to speak with Scholz has been received

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated that they have not yet received any requests for a phone conversation from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

As reported by Kremlin-aligned news agency TASS, in response to journalists' questions, Peskov said that no request for a phone conversation with the Kremlin leader had been received from Berlin. 

He also noted that "at first glance, there are no common topics" due to the near-total freeze in relations between Germany and Russia resulting from Russia's war against Ukraine. However, he emphasised that Putin "has been and remains open to dialogue".

The last time Scholz spoke with Putin was at the end of 2021.

According to German newspaper Die Zeit, Scholz is considering a phone conversation with Putin ahead of the G20 meeting in Brazil in November, which would be their first direct contact since 2022. However, no request for a conversation from Berlin has been made so far.

A spokesman for the German government stated after this publication in Die Zeit that Scholz had previously expressed his desire to talk with Putin "at an appropriate opportunity", but there are currently no plans for such a conversation.