"Russia must understand that there can be no question of concluding a kind of cold peace, thereby making, for example, the existing front line a new "border" between Russia and Ukraine," TASS quoted an excerpt from his interview with Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
According to Scholz, this scenario will supposedly "legitimize the acquisition of Russia" - we are talking about new territories. At the same time, the German politician did not answer the clarifying question whether this also applies to the Crimea.
Earlier, Scholz said that freezing the conflict should not be the goal of negotiations on the crisis around Ukraine.
A spokesman for the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, also said that Russia opposes freezing the Ukrainian conflict.
Scholz said he plans to hold a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the future.