Putin has not threatened me or Germany, Chancellor Scholz says
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Russian President Vladimir Putin has never threatened him or his country, against the backdrop of claims by Britain's Boris Johnson that Putin threatened the former UK prime minister with a missile strike.
Scholz told the German newspaper Bild in an interview published Sunday that “Putin didn’t threaten me or Germany” in the phone conversations the chancellor has had with the Russian leader.
Last week, Johnson revealed Putin had threatened him in a long phone call in February 2022 just before Russia launched the operation in Ukraine. The Kremlin has dismissed Johnson's words.
Apparently pushed in the Bild interview on whether Scholz had also received similar threats during phone calls with the Russian president, the chancellor said, “No.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the chancellor said Germany’s decision to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine was not a threat to Russia. He said Germany was delivering battle tanks to Ukraine, along with other allies including the United States, so that Kiev “can defend itself.”
Scholz said there was an agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that weapons supplied by the West must only be used on Ukrainian and not on Russian territory. "We have a consensus on that."
"Together with our allies, we are supplying battle tanks to Ukraine so that it can defend itself. We have carefully weighed each delivery of weapons, in close coordination with our allies, starting with America."
Ukraine’s Western allies have pledged to arm the country with precision rockets and missile systems, as well as tanks.
On the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad, President Putin compared the intervention of countries such as Germany with his nation’s struggle during World War II. “Again and again we are forced to repel the aggression of the collective West.”
On Saturday, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev warned the supply of more US weaponry to Ukraine will just add fuel to the fire.
The United States and its allies have not directly taken part in the war, but continue to send weapons and ammunition to Kiev. The assistance amounts to over $32 billion.
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