Russia: Vladimir Putin is said to have mocked German politicians

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Russian President Vladimir Putin

Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev / dpa

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apparently lashed out mightily against the German government. According to Russia's state-run Tass news agency, Putin told young scientists that Germany had to swallow instructions from its own allies and could not make its own decisions. The European states have cut themselves off from cheap gas from Russia.

Putin is also said to have addressed the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline and the blockade of Russian gas supplies by Poland and Ukraine.

Ukraine receives "money from Europe, from Germany, also for weapons and pensions, for social benefits and salaries," but Germany has cut off the flow of gas from Russia, which it so desperately needs, Putin said.

The Russian president went on to lash out at German politicians, some of whom have insufficient training to make professional decisions. "They are well known, and the whole world laughs at them. I don't say names," Putin is quoted as saying.

Again and again, the Kremlin spreads the propaganda that Germany supposedly receives instructions from the United States. There is no basis for this claim. It is unclear which German politicians Putin denies sufficient training. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, for example, has a doctorate in philosophy, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz is a fully qualified lawyer.

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