During a conversation with citizens on Sunday as part of the Democracy Festival, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke about his meeting in the Kremlin with Putin in February 2022 “at that long table that everyone remembers.”
Putin, according to Scholz, demonstrated his imperial notions that borders “can be changed by force,” without regard to law.
This was reported by Ukrinform.
During the 4 hours that the meeting lasted, just before the war broke out, Putin tried to prove “that Ukraine and Belarus are parts of Russia,” the German Chancellor said.
Lukashenko is aware of this and has no illusions, the chancellor added. Among the other reasons for the war, Putin said that “Ukraine is heading to NATO.” Scholz, according to him, openly told Putin that “this is out of the question for at least another 30 years.”
Vladimir Putin apparently also told Scholz about the “Nazi regime” in Ukraine.
“Talking about this when the president is a Jew…. You can imagine how absurd and shameful this explanation is to justify the war,” Scholz said.
The chancellor disagreed with the public’s assertion that Germany, by helping Kyiv with weapons, was “stirring up a war.”
“We are giving Ukraine the opportunity to defend itself… Maximum support to prevent this imperialist attack on a neighboring state from succeeding… But at the same time, we are making sure that it does not come to a major war between Russia and NATO,” Scholz emphasized.
He added that the war is killing not only Ukrainians, but also Russians, and “only for the sake of the fact that someday in history books that he (Putin) won’t even be able to read, in 100 years, it will be written that he conquered a couple of kilometers.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in his column for The Economist expressed his belief that the “brutal imperialism” of Russian President Vladimir Putin will fail, but NATO and Europe need to increase their own power and support Ukraine.
No reason to expand use of Western weapons
Earlier today, the chancellor spoke out against Ukraine’s use of weapons provided by Western allies for strikes against Russia, saying that ”at the moment, there is no reason to expand the use of Western weapons in the war in Ukraine.”
According to Scholz, the goal of its policy toward Ukraine is to “prevent the conflict from escalating into a major war,” Scholz added, noting that Germany has so far made arms deliveries to Ukraine conditional on them not being used on Russian territory.
This comes in the aftermath of NATO-chief Jens Stoltenberg’s call on NATO countries to reconsider their policy of not allowing Ukraine to use their weapons to strike at Russian territory. Several individuals, including US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US House Speaker Johnson endorsed the idea.
Read more:
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz opposes using Western weapons to strike Russia
- ”Shock and Awe”: the missing element in the West’s Ukraine strategy
- US House Speaker Johnson voices support for Ukraine striking Russia with US arms
- US Defense Secretary Austin reaffirms restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American weapons in Russia
- Pressure mounts on US over restriction for Ukraine to hit Russia with US weapons
