BERLIN (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin fears the “spark of democracy” that is spreading across his country, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, adding that Putin is trying to divide Europe and return to a world dominated by spheres of influence.
Scholz made the remarks in an interview with the Muenchner Merkur newspaper published on the German government’s website on Monday, when asked whether Putin would accept Ukraine’s approach to the European Union.
“The Russian president needs to accept that there is a community of law-based democracies in his neighborhood that are getting closer and closer,” he said. “He clearly fears the spark of democracy spreading across his country.”
The European Commission last week recommended that Ukraine, which is fighting a Russian invasion of its eastern region, be given formal candidate status to join the European Union, a gesture Scholz said he also supported.
“(Putin) wants to divide Europe and go back to spheres of influence politics,” Scholz said. “He will not succeed in that.”
Scholz warned that rising energy prices are likely to last a long time and rejected Russia’s claim that it had cut off gas flows because needed spare parts were in short supply due to sanctions.
“This explanation is not plausible,” he said.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt)
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