The German chancellor tried to divert the responsibility for the Ukraine conflict away from the West, the Russian president has said<\/p>\n
Chancellor Friedrich Merz sought to shift the responsibility for the Ukraine conflict away from the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, after the German leader called him a \u201cwar criminal.\u201d
\nSpeaking during a press conference on Wednesday, Putin said: \u201cI think that [Merz\u2019s remark] was an unsuccessful attempt to absolve himself, maybe not himself personally, but his country and the collective West\u2026 of the responsibility for the tragedy that is currently unfolding in Ukraine.\u201d
\nMerz told broadcaster Sat.1 that Putin was \u201cperhaps the most serious war criminal of our time,\u201d expressing skepticism over Moscow\u2019s readiness to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.
\n\u201cWe simply have to be clear about how to deal with war criminals. There is no room for leniency,\u201d the German chancellor stressed.
\nMerz called on the West to ensure the \u201ceconomic exhaustion\u201d of Russia, arguing that by imposing tariffs on nations trading with Moscow, Kiev\u2019s backers could make the Kremlin more willing to compromise.<\/p>\n
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Commenting on the chancellor\u2019s remark, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS that \u201cMerz has made very bad statements vis-a-vis Russian President Vladimir Putin.\u201d In light of this, Moscow would no longer take Berlin\u2019s opinions or suggestions into consideration, the official noted.
\nIn 2023, former US President Joe Biden characterized Putin as a \u201cdictator.\u201d He had previously similarly branded the Russian leader a \u201cpure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine\u201d and a \u201cwar criminal.\u201d
\nMoscow has long condemned Western military aid to Kiev, and views the Ukraine conflict as a NATO proxy war. Russia has also criticized what it calls the EU\u2019s growing militarization and bellicose rhetoric, accusing Western leaders of fear-mongering to justify the current splurge on war preparations.
\nRussia has particularly sounded the alarm over Germany\u2019s recent moves to beef up its armed forces, dismissing Berlin\u2019s narratives of a \u201cRussian threat\u201d as false.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The German chancellor tried to divert the responsibility for the Ukraine conflict away from the West, the Russian president has said Chancellor Friedrich Merz sought to shift the responsibility for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-politics","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t