Scholz reveals details of talks with Putin: conspiracy theories and odd reaction to sanctions

Journalist Stephan Lamby has gained access to the transcript of a conversation between German Сhancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron during which they discussed their talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Source: European Pravda, citing German media outlet Bild, which referenced the transcript

The talks between Scholz and Putin were held on 4 March 2022, day nine of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Scholz revealed in his conversation with Macron that the situation "is not getting better".

"There is something that concerns me more than the talks: he [Putin] does not complain about the sanctions at all. I don’t know if he mentioned them in his conversation with you. But he did not mention them at all to me," Scholz told Macron, who replied: "He didn’t to me either."

The German chancellor remarked that Putin was imposing his vision of Ukraine again: "He was sharing all his ideas on how to find a compromise. He was talking about demilitarisation and denazification [of Ukraine – ed.]".

After that, he said, Putin "asked me to recognise Crimea as a part of Russia" and recognise the independence of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

"When I asked him whether a meeting about Ukraine will be held at some point with you, me, Zelenskyy and him, Putin, he did not completely refuse. But he named two conditions. Firstly, it must not be a reason for a ceasefire. And he only talked about three of us: you, me and him. Not Zelenskyy," Scholz revealed.

He added that Putin also talked about conspiracy theories: "He then stated that the Ukrainian delegation went to Poland because they wanted to talk to the US president to receive their instructions."

In response, Macron said: "That is very similar to the conversation I had with him [Putin – ed.] yesterday."

Earlier, German Vice Chancellor Robert Gabeck was indignant about the fact that the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), unlike other intelligence agencies, was mistaken in its assessment of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Moreover, Scholz stated in May that he planned to talk to Putin again one day, though he did not give an approximate date of when this might happen.

The Kremlin complained in February that Macron and Scholz had not called Putin for a long time.

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