Putin took Scholz's call as a weakness - media outlet

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's call to Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin signalled weakness in the Western world and Scholz himself. This is according to Le Monde.

The newspaper writes that Scholz's communication with Putin was reacted to inside the country. The German opposition accused Scholz of fuelling Russian propaganda. In particular, the representative of the Christian Democratic Union Jurgen Hardt criticised the chancellor for promoting the Kremlin's "propaganda success" in the context of German domestic politics.

He said Mr Scholz should have given the Kremlin chief an ultimatum during his conversation with Mr Putin and made it clear that Moscow had a strong adversary in Berlin.

Mr Scholz did not make any new concrete proposals and did not even issue a quasi-ultimatum," the politician said.

At the same time, Hardt pointed out that Putin does not understand logical arguments and understands the situation only from a position of strength, which he "must feel from allies".

Recall, Scholz called Putin for the first time in a long time. The Chancellor condemned Russia's war of conquest against Ukraine and called on Putin to stop it and withdraw troops. Scholz assured that Germany would strongly support Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression for as long as necessary.