"Bizarre situation": Scholz describes meetings with Putin - and a mistake in his first year in office
Created: 07/12/2022 05:15
By: Fabian Mueller
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been in office for a year.
(Archive photo) © Bernd Elmenthaler/Imago
On Thursday, Olaf Scholz has been in office for a year.
Now Scholz spoke about the war in Ukraine, a meeting with Putin - and a political mistake.
Berlin – Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be in office for a year on November 8th.
Politically, the first year was not easy for Scholz, the corona pandemic and the resulting problems in health and economic policy, the war in Ukraine and the coordination of a pan-European response to Vladimir Putin's aggression - there was time for Scholz to catch his breath hardly any in the last twelve months.
Scholz spoke to the news magazine Stern
about a remarkable moment, his visit to Putin in February, shortly before Russian troops attacked Ukraine on February 24
.
"I certainly had hope that it was still possible to prevent this senseless and brutal war," said Scholz.
But things turned out differently.
Scholz looks back on first year in office: meeting with Putin "important", cooperation with Ukraine "good"
The meeting was still important, "because it gave me the opportunity to talk about all the pretexts that Putin is now using to justify this war - and to refute them," the chancellor said.
He asked Putin: "Is it possible that when I take off, the Russian fighter jets will take off behind me towards Ukraine?" The Russian President did not answer "No".
"I still remember that to this day," said Scholz about this moment.
Asked about a photo from this meeting, which shows Scholz and Putin at opposite ends of a long table in the Kremlin, Scholz said: "The conversation with Putin at this insanely long table was a bizarre situation." Scholz and Putin were alone in it Raum, there were only microphones and headphones for the translation.
In Scholz's opinion, a shorter table would have done the trick.
“But I would have had to have myself tested against Corona by Russian doctors in advance.
But we don't do that.
We don't ask that of our visitors either," said the Chancellor.
At a distance: Vladimir Putin (left) and his guest Olaf Scholz sat at different ends of a long table during the talks.
© Press Office of the Russian President/German Embassy
One year Chancellor Olaf Scholz: he described his visit to Ukraine as "very depressing"
Scholz described the visit to Ukraine in June, in the midst of the Russian war of aggression, as "very depressing".
On June 16, Scholz visited Irpin, a suburb of Kiev, and was there, according to his own statements, able to understand “the brutality with which the Russian soldiers acted”.
He will never forget a moment, said Scholz: "We saw cars in which fleeing families were sitting, who were simply shot."
Scholz told Stern
magazine that he had called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensyki a total of 18 times since the beginning of the war, describing
the cooperation with him as "good".
The German Chancellor defended his stance on arms deliveries from Germany to Ukraine.
"I have broken with a tradition that has applied in Germany for many decades - namely not to deliver weapons to crisis or war zones." support the strongest,” said Scholz.
From the state there is "a lot of thanks and praise for our support".
Video: One year Chancellor: Olaf Scholz is full of self-praise
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Scholz also spoke to the magazine about mistakes in his first year in office.
The President of the Palestinians, Mahmoud Abbas, made anti-Israel statements at a press conference in Berlin.
Scholz now criticized his own reaction and called it a mistake.
"What Abbas said was terrible.
Unacceptable,” Scholz described the situation.
He then quickly made it clear that this was unacceptable.
However, according to Scholz, "it would have been nice if it had happened at the PK itself." (
fmü
)
