German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has sharply criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's interview with a right-wing US talk show host. During a visit to the US capital on Friday, Scholz said that it was an interview "that honestly only mocks what real actions have been done by Russia in Ukraine and tells a completely absurd story about the cause of this war." But "there is a very clear cause," Scholz stressed, namely the Kremlin leader's desire to annex part of Ukraine. "And all the stories that