Russia nuclear threat curbed 'for the time being': Scholz

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview published Thursday that the risk of Moscow using nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine was reduced thanks to international pressure. 

Scholz was asked if he thought the threat of a nuclear escalation had been averted. He said, "For the time being, we have put a stop to it."

"One thing has changed for the time being: Russia has stopped threatening to use nuclear weapons. In response to the international community marking a red line," he said in the interview with Germany's Funke media group.

When asked about French President Emmanuel Macron's controversial comments about providing security guarantees for Moscow, Scholz said that the priority was for Russia "to end the war immediately and withdraw its troops."

"It is true that the question is then how we can achieve security for Europe. Of course we are ready to talk with Russia about arms control in Europe. We offered this before the war, and this position has not changed," the German chancellor said.

The interview came on the one-year anniversary of Scholz's three-party ruling coalition.

'We haven't gone mad,' says Putin

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the risk of a nuclear war was increasing but Moscow would not recklessly use such arms. 

"We haven't gone mad, we realize what nuclear weapons are," Putin said at a meeting of his human rights council.

"We have these means in more advanced and modern form than any other nuclear country... But we aren't about to run around the world brandishing this weapon like a razor."

The Russian leader suggested that Moscow would only use nuclear weapons in retaliation to such an attack. 

His remarks came more than nine months after he ordered what the Kremlin describes as a "special military operation" in Ukraine, launching a full-scale invasion.

With Russia missing most of its key goals in the war, fears over Putin resorting to nuclear weapons have risen in recent months. 

fb/rs (AFP, Reuters)