BERLIN, January 3. /TASS/. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz considers efforts to build relations with Russia as an important factor and is going to place this issue under his personal control and expects to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin already in January, the German newspaper Bild reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

TASS has no official comment from Berlin on this information.

As the paper reported, Scholz seeks "a new start" in relations with Moscow. In particular, the focus will be on relations in the gas sphere and the Ukrainian issue. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Foreign Policy Adviser Jens Plotner has been preparing a meeting with the Russian leader in January for already two weeks, the tabloid said.

According to the paper, this situation leaves behind Germany’s Greens who generally have a more critical view on Russia, especially with regard to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. German experts have said on many occasions that Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has a different view on building relations with Moscow than Social Democrat Scholz.