MOSCOW, 21 Aug. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that before the special operation he assured President Vladimir Putin that there was no threat to Russia from NATO. Die Welt writes about this. According to the German chancellor, he also discussed with Putin the issue of Ukraine's membership in the alliance and promised that «this will not happen in the next 30 years.» Scholz did not specify when exactly his conversation with his colleague took place. Before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the German chancellor spoke with the Russian president on December 21, and on February 15 he arrived in Moscow to discuss the Ukrainian crisis. Russia launched a special operation to protect Donbass on February 24. Putin called its task «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» According to the head of state, the ultimate goal of the operation is the liberation of Donbass and the creation of conditions guaranteeing the security of Russia itself. Western aid to Ukraine dried up at a decisive moment
