Putin on Iran and Germany's Merz
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 19 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin made the following comments to senior news agency editors on the conflict between Iran and Israel and on whether he would be willing to speak to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
ASKED ABOUT ISRAELI REMARKS ABOUT POSSIBLE REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN:
"You always need to look at whether the goal is achieved or not when starting something. We see that today in Iran, with all the complexity of the internal political processes taking place there, we are aware of this, and I think there is no point in going deeper, but nevertheless there is a consolidation of society around the country's political leadership. This happens almost always and everywhere, and Iran is no exception. This is the first thing.
"The second thing that is very important is that everyone is talking about it, I will only repeat what we know and hear from all sides, these underground factories, they exist, nothing has happened to them. And in this regard, it seems to me that it would be right for everyone to look for ways to end hostilities and find ways for all parties to this conflict to come to an agreement with each other in order to ensure both Iran's interests, on the one hand, for its nuclear activities, including peaceful nuclear activities, of course (I mean peaceful nuclear energy and the peaceful atom in other areas), as well as to ensure the interests of Israel from the point of view of the unconditional security of the Jewish state. This is a delicate issue, and, of course, you need to be very careful here, but in my opinion, in general, such a solution can be found."
ASKED IF HE WOULD BE WILLING TO SPEAK TO GERMANY'S MERZ:
"If the Federal Chancellor wants to call and talk, I have already said this many times - we do not refuse any contacts. And we are always open to this... At some point, when our European partners decided to inflict a strategic defeat on us on the battlefield, they themselves stopped these contacts. They stopped, let them resume. We are open to them.
"I do doubt if Germany can contribute more than the United States as a mediator in our negotiations with Ukraine. A mediator must be neutral. And when we see German tanks and Leopard (battle tanks) on the battlefield, and now we are looking at the fact that the Federal Republic is considering supplying Taurus (missiles) for attacks on Russian territory using not only the equipment itself, but also using Bundeswehr officers... Here, of course, big questions arise. It is well known that if this happens, it will not affect the course of hostilities, that is excluded. But it will spoil our relationship completely.
"Therefore, today we consider the Federal Republic, just like many other European countries, not a neutral state, but as a party supporting Ukraine, and in some cases, perhaps, as accomplices in these hostilities. Nevertheless, if we are talking about a desire to talk about this topic, to present some ideas on this subject, I repeat once again, we are always ready for this."
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