"In this case, apparently, some obligations in the alliance were put at the forefront... Was it right or not? I think that this is a mistake, and now German business, economy, and citizens are paying for this mistake, because there are negative economic consequences for the Eurozone in general and for Germany in particular," Putin said on Friday at a press conference following his visit to Kazakhstan.
Although they were not [delivering gas before the explosions], there was an element of reliability - that as a last resort they could be turned on; but now there is no such option," he added.
Special Military Operation
“There is no need for massive strikes now, there are other tasks, because, as far as I know, out of 29 [infrastructure] objects, seven were not hit as planned by the Ministry of Defense. But these objects are being finished off gradually, there is no need for massive strikes, at least for now, and later - we'll see," he explained.
"Now … 222,000 people have been mobilized out of 300,000. I think that within about two weeks all mobilization activities will be completed," Putin stated.
Possible Negotiations
"We have always said that we are open [for negotiations]. We even reached certain agreements in Istanbul. in fact, these accords were almost initialed. However, as soon as the [Russian] troops withdrew from Kiev, Ukraine's desire to negotiate immediately disappeared, that's all," Putin said.