German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the Russian president is "very afraid" that the West wants to overthrow his "regime". But Western leaders certainly don’t have such plans today, the politician assured in an interview with Deutsche Welle.
We are not planning a regime change (in Russia). Who sits where, we do not decide
Scholz said.
At the same time, the chancellor noted that the Russian leader will have to "live with the fact that" the European Union is next to him "as a community of open societies, liberal democracies, and in some way hope that freedom is not a virus."
The politician added that he would strive to ensure that Germany was not drawn into a direct conflict. Therefore, Scholz assured, there are "no and never will be" German soldiers in Ukraine.
Earlier, he said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would never did not threaten Germany. In addition, the chancellor clarified that the weapons that the West supplies to Kyiv should only be used in Ukraine and the territory of Russia (within the borders until 2014) will not be attacked.