German Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes that last weekend's failed coup in Russia weakened President Vladimir Putin, but the implications for Russia's invasion of Ukraine remain unclear.
He said this in an interview with public broadcaster ARD on Wednesday.
"This shows that there are cracks in autocratic structures, power structures and that he is by no means sitting as firmly and firmly in the chair. I believe that he is weakened," Scholz said.
The chancellor said that the situation in Russia remains tense and that Germany will proceed with caution.
"Russia is a nuclear power. That's why we always have to watch carefully when dangerous situations arise - and this is a dangerous situation," he said.
In this context, the chancellor added that Germany supports Ukraine so that it can defend itself, but emphasized that "the goal of our support for Ukraine is not to change the regime in Russia."
Scholz refused to comment on how long Putin will be able to stay in power after the Wagner uprising.
"I don't want to get involved in any speculation about how long he will be in power. It could be long or it could be short, we don't know," he said.
Scholz added that a change of leadership in the Kremlin might not be the best option: "We don't know if someone better or worse will come after Putin."
We will remind you that last weekend the head of the private military company "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin started and then canceled the mutiny due to criticism of the Russian military leadership.
According to media reports, US intelligence officials were able to gather an extremely detailed and accurate picture of Prigozhin's plans for his rebellion, but shared the intelligence only with select allies.
