2024-11-18 14:22 update: 2024-11-18, 14:24
Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Friday telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin was Scholz's "self-initiated action" and "a mistake" when it comes to international politics, Polish President Andrzej Duda has said.
On Friday, Scholz held a telephone conversation with Putin for the first time in nearly two years. According to the German chancellor, he urged Putin to withdraw its armed forces from Ukraine and show readiness to negotiate with Ukraine.
"Please, take a look at the situation," Duda told reporters before his flight to Jordan on Monday. "Don't you have the perception that it's an attempt to seek a possibility to freeze this conflict, to arrange a ceasefire before Donald Trump takes over as the US president?"
Duda also expressed doubts whether the Scholz-Putin conversation had been agreed with Nato allies.
"I think it's a self-initiated action by Chancellor Scholz," Duda said. "Perhaps Germany is looking for an opportunity to establish contact. As the German press points out, the chancellor's office, the chancellor are looking for a way to reach agreement with Russia to return to energy contracts and again be able to purchase energy commodities from Russia.
"What does it mean for us?" Duda asked rhetorically. "Likely an attempt to restore the operation of the (Russia-Germany - PAP) Nord Stream pipeline, likely an attempt to create energy risk again for our part of Europe: for Ukraine, for Slovakia, for Poland," Duda said.
"I strongly believe it was a mistake in terms of international politics," Duda concluded. (PAP)
jd/mf
