(MENAFN) Russian Leader Vladimir Putin wants to go back to a 'spheres of influence' situation, but he will not win, as said by German President Olaf Scholz in an interview with the newspaper Munchner Merkur.

Amongst other topics, Scholz was requested to note on Russia’s statements that Western bans were blocking supplies of Russian gas to Germany through the Nord Stream pipeline.

On the words of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the pipeline’s turbines have to be kept, but due to the restrictions “the Europeans are not returning them.”

“This justification is not plausible,” Scholz answered.

In another part of the interview, while claiming that neither NATO nor the European Union was an intimidation to Russia, Scholz underlined that Putin “has to accept that a community of democracies and constitutional states is growing ever closer together in his neighborhood.”

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