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By Thomas Escritt and Andreas Rinke
BERLIN (Reuters) -Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for the first time in nearly two years as the German leader gears up for a snap election and Europe waits to hear Donald Trump's plan for ending the war in Ukraine.
In a phone call that was swiftly criticised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Scholz urged Putin to pull his forces out of Ukraine and begin talks with Kyiv that would open the way for a "just and lasting peace", the German government said.
The Kremlin said the conversation had come at Berlin's request, and that Putin had told Scholz any agreement to end the war in Ukraine must take Russian security interests into account and reflect "new territorial realities".
The call opened a "Pandora's box" by undermining efforts to isolate the Russian leader, Zelenskiy said. He and other European officials had cautioned Scholz against the move, according to sources familiar with the matter, who believed it was more for domestic consumption.
Facing a snap election on Feb. 23, Scholz's Social Democrats are coming under pressure from Russia-friendly populist parties on both sides of the political spectrum that argue the government has not deployed enough diplomacy to end the war.
"The chancellor urged Russia to show willingness to enter talks with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace," a German government spokesperson said in a statement.
"He stressed Germany's unbroken determination to back Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression for as long as necessary," the spokesperson added.
Ukraine said however that phone conversations with Putin brought no added value on the path to achieving a "just peace" in Ukraine but just help him weaken his isolation.
"Now there may be other conversations, other calls. Just a lot of words," said Zelenskiy in his evening address. "And this is exactly what Putin has long wanted: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation and to conduct ordinary negotiations."
The call comes in the week after Trump was elected as the next U.S. president. He has suggested he could put a swift end to the war, without explaining how, and repeatedly criticised the scale of Western financial and military aid for Kyiv.
"It sends a bad signal especially after Trump’s election," said one Western diplomat, noting their country had told Berlin it was not a good idea.
"My hope is that Scholz can now say to his electorate 'look, I have done it, and it’s a waste of time as Putin isn’t open to anything'. But of course, (it is a) question about how Russia spins it."
French President Emmanuel Macron does not have any talks scheduled with Putin, a source in his entourage said.
SCHOLZ TO BRIEF ALLIES
The Kremlin said Putin had told Scholz Russia was willing to look at energy deals if Germany was interested. Germany was heavily reliant on Russian gas before the war but direct shipments ceased when pipelines under the Baltic Sea were blown up in 2022.
Scholz plans to brief Zelenskiy, Germany's allies, partners and the heads of the European Union and NATO on the outcome of Friday's call, German officials said. Putin and Scholz agreed to stay in contact, they added.
Ukraine is facing increasingly difficult conditions on the frontlines in its east amid shortages of arms and personnel, while Russian forces make steady advances.
A separate German government official said Scholz had told Putin the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia for combat missions against Ukraine was seen as a serious escalation and expansion of the conflict.
Zelenskiy says North Korea has 11,000 troops in Russia and that some have suffered casualties in combat with Ukrainian forces which are currently occupying territory in Russia's southern Kursk region.
Germany has given Ukraine a total of 15 billion euros in financial, humanitarian and military support since the start of the full-scale war, making it Kyiv's second-largest backer after the United States.
The future of U.S. aid to Ukraine is unclear following Trump's election victory.
Scholz and Putin last spoke in December 2022, 10 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, plunging relations with the West into their deepest freeze since the Cold War.
(Additional reporting by Tom Balmforth in Kyiv, Anna Koper in Warsaw, Andreas Rinke, Miranda Murray and Rachel More in Berlin, John Irish and Michel Rose in Paris, Andrew Gray and Lili Bayer in Brussels; Writing by Thomas Escritt and Sarah Marsh; Editing by Gareth Jones and Alison Williams)
