Russia has ‘stopped threatening to use nuclear weapons,’ Olaf Scholz says as Putin again threatens to use them

German chancellor Olof Scholz claimed that Russia has stopped threatening to use its nuclear weapons over Ukraine, just before Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke menacingly about how the risk of a nuclear war was rising.

Mr Scholz claimed in an interview released on Thursday morning that the risk of Mr Putin using nuclear weapons as part of his war in Ukraine had decreased in response to international pressure.

He told Funke media that “Russia has stopped threatening to use nuclear weapons,” saying this came “as a reaction to the international community marking a red line”.

The outlet said Mr Scholz gave the interview on Monday and that his office cleared the remarks for publication on Wednesday.

Yet just hours later, Mr Putin spoke in Moscow warning that Russia would defend its territory and allies “with all available means” including nuclear, and that “we have these means in more advanced and modern form than any other nuclear country”.

The Russian president did at least concede that his country has not “gone mad” and said it would only use its own nuclear arsenal as a defensive deterrent. “We aren’t about to run around the world brandishing this weapon like a razor,” he said.

Mr Putin was speaking at a televised meeting of the presidential Human Rights Council, where he warned that the danger of a nuclear conflict in Europe was “growing”. “Such a threat is growing, it would be wrong to hide it”, he said, adding that “we do not have nuclear weapons, including tactical ones, on the territory of other countries, but the Americans do – in Turkey, and in a number of other European countries”.

The US denounced Mr Putin’s “loose talk” about nuclear weapons late on Wednesday. When asked by reporters about the Russian president’s comments, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: “We think any loose talk of nuclear weapons is absolutely irresponsible.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Mr Scholz emphasised Germany’s support for Ukraine and said that, after the United States, Berlin was the invaded country’s biggest supporter Ukraine.

“We are doing everything we can to prevent a direct war between Russia and Nato. Such a conflict would have only losers – all over the world,” he said.

Asked about Germany’s continuing reliance on Russian energy imports, the chancellor said: “We are now making the necessary decisions to become independent in the long term. From 2045 onwards, we want to be completely climate-neutral and generate our energy entirely without natural gas, coal or oil.”