German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops against Ukraine was a “serious escalation” of the conflict, government sources said.

In the first telephone call between the leaders in almost two years, Scholz called on Putin to end the war and withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine.

The Kremlin described the conversation as “a detailed and frank exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine”, adding “the fact of the dialogue is positive”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the call was a “Pandora’s box” and argued it weakens Putin’s isolation.

According to government sources, the chancellor condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and called on Moscow to negotiate with Kiev to reach a “fair and lasting peace.”

He also emphasized “Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its defensive struggle against Russian aggression for as long as necessary.”

Scholz particularly condemned the Russian air attacks on civilian infrastructure.

The phone call lasted about an hour and both leaders agreed to stay in touch. Russian media report that the call was initiated by Germany, according to the Kremlin.

The German government will be keen to avoid any accusation that Berlin is trying to cut a deal with Moscow over Ukraine, especially given Eastern Europe’s painful 20th-century memories of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union dividing the region between them into divided.

In a written statement, the chancellor’s office emphasized that Scholz had also spoken with Zelensky before the call to Putin. Scholz also planned to talk to Zelensky again after the phone call to provide details about the conversation with the Russian president.

In a Kremlin statement to Russian media, Putin reportedly told Scholz that Russian-German relations had “suffered an unprecedented deterioration across the board as a result of the “unfriendly course” of the German authorities.

According to the Kremlin, Putin told Scholz that any potential peace deal “must be based on the new territorial reality” – in other words the Ukrainian territory that Russia has occupied since 2022.

Putin also said that a peace deal can only be achieved by eliminating “the root causes of the conflict.” The Kremlin justifies its invasion of Ukraine with the accusation of “expansion” of NATO into Eastern Europe.

In the call, Putin reportedly said that “the current crisis was a direct consequence of NATO’s long-standing aggressive policy aimed at creating an anti-Russian bridgehead on Ukrainian territory.”

In an interview on German television on Sunday, Scholz said he planned to talk to Putin to push for peace talks. He said he did not act alone, but in consultation with others.

There is speculation that Scholz also plans to talk about the war in Ukraine with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a lukewarm supporter of Russia, at the G20 in Rio de Janeiro next week.

The last time Scholz spoke to Putin on the phone was on December 2, 2022. They last met in person a week before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Scholz returned to Berlin at the time with promises from Putin that Russia had no intention of invading Ukraine. The attack a week later was the final break in trust between Germany and Russia.

For decades, Berlin had tried to secure peace with Moscow by connecting the two countries through trade and energy ties. That aspiration was shattered overnight when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Today, Germany is the second largest donor of military and financial aid to Ukraine after the US, and mainstream politicians from across the political spectrum, as well as most voters, are in favor of supporting Ukraine.

But with elections taking place in Germany in February, pressure is growing for serious peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

The far-right AfD and the new far-left populist BSW, which together could win between a quarter and a third of the votes in the elections, accuse the government of not doing enough to broker a peace deal.

Scholz’s governing coalition collapsed last week and he now leads a minority government until the elections. Both he and his party are doing poorly in the polls.

Germany has been hit hard both politically and economically by the war in Ukraine.

So any sign that Scholz helps end the conflict could change his fortunes at the ballot box.