Meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Russian President Vladimir Putin: We Don't Want War

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country did not want war, was willing to hold talks with the United States and NATO, after holding a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow, Tuesday.

In a meeting held after Russia announced it was starting to withdraw its troops following military exercises near the Ukrainian border, President Putin said he did not want war around Ukraine, after weeks of tension over the deployment of large Russian troops.

"Do we want (war) or not? Of course not. That's why we put forward a proposal for the negotiation process," he said during a joint press conference with the German Chancellor, quoted from Euronews February 16.

Speaking after talks with Scholz, Vladimir Putin said the United States and NATO had rejected Moscow's requests to keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet countries out of NATO, stop the deployment of weapons near Russia's borders and withdraw alliance troops from Eastern Europe.

But the US and NATO have agreed to discuss various security measures that Russia has proposed previously.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Scholz said he agreed the diplomatic option was "far from exhausted". The announcement of the troop withdrawal was a "good signal", he said, adding he hoped "more would follow".

Much remains unclear about Russia's intentions and the announcement of troop withdrawal from the border area. Meanwhile, the NATO chief said there were no "signs of de-escalation on the ground".

Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday the meeting of the two countries' leaders was an opportunity for each side to exchange views on "heated issues", according to Russia's TASS news agency.

To note, Chancellor Scholz's visit to Moscow comes a day after he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv in a show of solidarity. Arriving in Moscow, Chancellor Scholz laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a war memorial dedicated to soldiers who died during World War II, before meeting President Putin.