BERLIN, December 8. /TASS/. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that he thinks it necessary to speak with Russia about arms control in Europe but first Russia must stop combat operations in Ukraine.
"First of all, Russia must stop the war and withdraw its troops," he said in an interview with Germany’s Funke Media Group published on Thursday. "It’s true that afterward a question will arise how we can ensure Europe’s security. Naturally, we are ready to speak with Russia about arms control in Europe. We offered that back before the war. Nothing has changed in this position."
He once again reiterated that Germany would continue to support Ukraine but warned against Russia-NATO confrontation. "We are doing our utmost to prevent a direct war between Russia and NATO. There will be only losers in this conflict in the entire world," he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with the TF1 television channel after his visit to the United States that Europe’s future security architecture should give security guarantees to Russia. He said this issue would be part of discussions about peace, so it would be necessary to think how France and the European Union would be able to defend their allies and concurrently give security guarantees to Russia when negotiations resumed. He stressed that he saw no military solutions to the Ukrainian conflict and reaffirmed that the only way out of this situation was through talks.