BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, the Kremlin leader’s first publicly announced conversation with the sitting head of a major Western power in nearly two years. Scholz urged Putin to be open to negotiations with Ukrainesaid his office.

The Kremlin leader responded that any peace deal would have to recognize Russia’s territorial gains and security demands, including Kiev giving up NATO membership.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Scholz urged Putin in the hour-long call to withdraw his troops and end the full-scale invasion launched in February 2022. The conflict will reach its 1,000th on Tuesday -day, and the exiled Russian opposition leaders, including Alexei Navalny. the widow, Yulia, has scheduled an anti-war rally for Sunday in Berlin.

“The chancellor urged Russia to be willing to negotiate with Ukraine in order to achieve a just and lasting peace and underlined Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression for as long as necessary,” Hebestreit said in a statement.

The new communication between Scholz and Putin — their first since December 2022 — comes at a time of widespread speculation about what the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump will mean for Ukraine. Scholz is facing a political crisis at home and has called for a confidence vote next month, with snap elections in February.

Washington has been Ukraine’s biggest military backer, but Trump has repeatedly done so questioned the value of the aid being given to Ukraine. While Trump has suggested he could fix the problem war fastUkraine has ruled out ceding any territory to Moscow in exchange for peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Scholz’s appeal to Putin, calling it a “Pandora’s box” and would only serve to make Russia less isolated.

“Now there can be other conversations, other calls. Just a lot of words. And this is exactly what Putin has wanted for a long time,” Zelenskyi said in his night speech. “It is crucial for him to loosen his isolation. … And to engage in negotiations, ordinary negotiations, that will not lead to anything.”

Scholz condemned Russian air raids on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and warned that the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia to fight in the war would mark a serious escalation. The US, South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea sent it thousands of troops in Russia to support his war against Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Germany initiated the call, during which the leaders had a “detailed and frank exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine.”

Putin blamed the “current crisis” on what he called “NATO’s long-standing aggressive policy aimed at creating an anti-Russian bastion on Ukrainian territory, while ignoring our country’s security interests and trampling on the rights to Russian-speaking residents,” a Kremlin reading. said.

Putin also said Russia remains open to resuming peace talks, underlining the conditions it set in June, which include Kiev dropping its bid to join NATO and withdrawing troops from the four Ukrainian regions Moscow has annexed. illegal in 2022.

“Possible agreements should take into account the interests of the Russian Federation in the sphere of security, depart from the new territorial realities and, most importantly, eliminate the root causes of the conflict,” it reads.

Putin, who earlier this month said it was up to Western leaders to resume contact with Russia if they wanted to, also noted the “unprecedented deterioration” in bilateral relations between Germany and Russia, the Kremlin statement said, noting while the leaders also discussed the situation in the Middle East.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the leaders had a “detailed” and “frank” exchange of views, but added that “there is no talk of convergence of views.”

The two parties agreed to stay in touch after the call.

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Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed.