Putin has never threatened me or Germany: Scholz

BERLIN

Germany’s chancellor said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has never threatened him or his country.

In an interview with the Bild newspaper, Olaf Scholz reiterated that they decided to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine with allies so that Ukraine could defend itself.

Asked whether he was threatened by Putin like former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was, the chancellor said Putin has never threatened him or Germany.

“In our phone calls, our very different perspectives on the war in Ukraine become very clear. I make it clear to Putin that Russia is solely responsible for the war,” said Scholz.

In a BBC documentary released on Jan. 30, Johnson claimed that Putin threatened him with a missile strike during an “extraordinary” phone call prior to the war in Ukraine.

Putin on Friday compared the intervention of countries such as Germany in the war by providing weapons to Ukraine with Russia’s struggle during World War II.

In response, Scholz noted that “his words are part of a series of absurd historical comparisons that he uses to justify his attack on Ukraine, but nothing justifies this war.”

• Germany
• Olaf Scholz
• Russia
• Ukraine
• Vladimir Putin