The Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, and the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, meeting this Wednesday in Berlin for a bilateral meeting, called on the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine if, as he said, he wants to seek a solution. Scholz and Meloni told him this during their participation by videoconference in the virtual G-20 summit, which the Russian Putin also attended from Moscow, in an unprecedented multi-party confrontation with international leaders, including some Westerners.
“It was the first time since the beginning of the war of aggression in Ukraine that President Putin participated in a G-20 meeting; I have called on you to withdraw your troops from the territory of Ukraine so that this war ends,” Scholz said during the joint press conference with Meloni. “It is Russia that has attacked Ukraine and to restore peace, it is enough for Russia to withdraw its troops,” Scholz insisted.
“When he started talking about Russia wanting to seek peace, I told him that the easiest way is for him to leave Ukraine,” said Meloni, who attributed Putin’s participation to not having to leave Moscow and the search for visibility. “I think it’s good that he was there; “He has had to listen to us,” concluded the Italian Prime Minister.
In the videoconference from Moscow, Putin admitted that the Ukraine conflict is a “tragedy” and proposed “thinking” about finding a solution, but he regretted that international leaders feel moved in this case and not by the war in the Donbass or Gaza. Given the shock caused by Russia’s “continued aggression” in Ukraine that some of the speakers at the summit spoke about, Putin said that “military actions are always a tragedy for individuals and families, and for the country in general; Of course, we must think about how to stop this tragedy.”
The head of the Kremlin assured that he has never “given up on peace negotiations with Ukraine,” but that he demands that to do so, Ukraine must admit the “new territorial realities.” By this he was referring to the annexation by Russia via military occupation of four Ukrainian regions, in addition to Crimea, annexed in 2014.
Putin did not attend the last three summits of the G-20 – the club of the 19 largest economies in the world, plus the EU and the African Union –, held in Italy, Indonesia and India, with the excuse of the coronavirus. In the last one, in September of this year, he was represented by his Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.
In Berlin, Scholz and Meloni assured that their support for Kyiv will continue as long as necessary. Germany has just announced the sending of a new military aid package worth 1.3 billion euros.
Meloni’s visit to Scholz in Berlin, which also included inter-ministerial meetings, culminated in the signing of a cooperation plan between Italy and Germany in various matters, from promoting competitiveness to security, defense and energy. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the subsequent cutoff of Russian gas to Germany, which forced the German government to look for new sources of supply, energy is a key issue. Scholz announced the construction of a pipeline between Germany and Italy to transport gas and hydrogen across the Alps.