BERLIN, June 16. /TASS/. More than 50% of Germans believe that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz should hold a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ways to resolve the Ukraine conflict, the Stern magazine wrote, citing the results of a recent survey.
The poll was conducted by the media outlet and carried out by the Forsa polling agency.
According to the survey, 56% of respondents believe that Merz and Putin's phone talk on possible ways to end the Ukraine conflict would be beneficial if held in the near future. However, 42% of those surveyed see little meaning in such a conversation. Most people who spoke in favor of a phone talk between the two leaders are supporters of the Left Party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), or the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
However, the poll indicates that Germans' attitudes toward the Russian president's position on the conflict have remained consistent since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the magazine said.
Earlier, a number of SPD representatives advocated for an immediate change in Germany's foreign and security policy and insisted on diplomatic talks with Russia. At the same time, they opposed the deployment of US missiles on German territory. Several dozen Social Democrats have signed a so-called manifesto, among them were Rolf Muetzenich, the former leader of the SPD group in the Bundestag (the German parliament), foreign policy expert Ralf Stegner, and former co-leader Norbert Walter-Borjans.
In their view, most European countries, including Germany, are now led by forces that choose a path of "military confrontation and spending hundreds of billions of euros on rearmament." According to the signatories, military rhetoric and large-scale rearmament programs lead to instability and increase tension between NATO countries and Russia." The Social Democrats called for practical steps, including improving relations with Russia, and criticized the plan to significantly increase defense spending.