OREANDA-NEWS  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz does not expect a conflict with the Russian Federation in the near future and allows a return to mutual understanding and diplomacy, at the same time Germany needs to increase its defense capability, he said during a conversation with readers of the Thüringer Allgemeine newspaper.

"I am sure that this will not happen in the coming time, and we are pursuing such a policy so that this does not happen," Scholz said, answering the question whether he expects a conflict between NATO countries, Germany in particular and the Russian Federation. The conversation was broadcast on the newspaper's YouTube channel. According to him, the goal of the German government is to avoid conflict through a "diplomatically motivated policy" and an understanding of the inviolability of state borders.

"Of course, it will be necessary to return to politics, diplomacy and mutual understanding again," he said, citing the creation of the CSCE and, subsequently, the OSCE as an example.

At the same time, he recalled the "Zeitenwende" (change of era) he proclaimed after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, as a result of which Germany now intends to increase its defense capability.