Germany will stop importing Russian gas ‘very soon’, says Olaf Scholz
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said his country is doing all it can to wean itself off Russian energy, but declined to endorse a claim by Boris Johnson that it would stop importing Russian gas by the middle of 2024.
Scholz said only that the goal would be achieved very soon, and that Germany would stop using Russian coal by the summer and Russian oil by the end of the year.
The two leaders were speaking at a Downing Street press conference after the first extensive bilateral talks since Scholz was elected to head a coalition government.
Scholz also implied Germany would not supply Ukraine with 100 Marder tanks, saying he would only supply weapons that were practical and useful. A Ukrainian request for the tanks has been held up by the German defence department, leading to tensions between the Ukrainians and Germans.
Johnson, one of the closest allies of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, struck a different tone than Scholz about the value of holding talks with Vladimir Putin, after Polish criticism of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for persisting with his dialogue with the Russian leader.
Johnson said: “I have got to say, negotiating with Putin does not seem to be full of promise or that he can be trusted.” He said he was “deeply, deeply sceptical and cynical about Putin’s assurances” and that “the Europe we knew just six weeks ago no longer exists”.
Scholz said the criticism of Macron was unjustified and that it was important Putin heard voices other than from his inner circle.
Throughout the press conference, Scholz was challenged to explain why Germany was not willing to go faster to reduce the scale of Russian energy imports, given the €35bn (£29bn) in revenue from the EU it has generated for
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