Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Putin made “a big mistake” by attacking Ukraine.
Frankfurt:
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday defended her years-long detention policy towards Moscow, saying she has “nothing to apologize for” even though the Ukraine war affected her legacy.
In her first major interview since leaving office six months ago, Merkel insisted she was not naive in her dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The diplomacy isn’t wrong because it hasn’t worked,” the 67-year-old said on stage at a Berlin theater in an interview broadcast on Phoenix News Channel.
He recalled his support for economic sanctions against Russia on Crimea in 2014 and German-French efforts to keep the Minsk peace process alive for Ukraine.
“I don’t have to blame myself for not trying hard enough,” said the conservative ex-chancellor.
“I don’t think I have to say ‘he was wrong’ and so I have nothing to apologize for.”
The veteran leader, who met frequently with Putin in 16 years of power and advocated a commerce-driven, pragmatic approach to Moscow, said the February 24 invasion of Ukraine marked a “turning point”.
– ‘Wants to destroy Europe’ –
He said there was “no justification” for a “brutal” and illegal war of aggression, adding that Putin had made “a big mistake”.
“He wants to destroy Europe,” he warned. “It is very important for the EU to be together now.”
But she rejected criticism that she had done wrong in preventing Ukraine from joining NATO in 2008, saying she was not ready then and wanted to avoid “moving forward” with Putin, who was already He was concerned about the perceived eastern expansion of the military alliance.
He also insisted that the 2014-2015 Minsk peace deal, now disbanded, was seen as the best bet to end fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine at the time.
The peace process “brought some calm” that gave Ukraine an additional seven years to develop into a democracy and strengthen its military, she said, to Kyiv’s much-lauded resistance against the invading Russian troops.
“The courage and passion with which they are fighting for their country is very impressive,” Merkel said. He said he had the “highest respect” for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But Merkel insisted there was no way to avoid dealing with Putin because Russia, like China, was too big to ignore.
“We have to find a way to coexist despite all our differences,” she said.
– ‘The language of strength’ –
Facing criticism of the “change through trade” policy by successive German governments, Merkel said she was never under the illusion that closer trade links would lead to democratic reforms in Russia.
“I never thought Putin would change through business,” she said. But in the absence of a political rapprochement, it “makes sense to have some economic relationship”.
Germany became overly reliant on Russian energy imports under Merkel’s watch, and she long troubled Western allies with her support for the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was meant to double Russian gas delivery to Germany.
The project was shelved by current Chancellor Olaf Scholz in late February due to Russia’s invasion, and Europe’s top economy now joins EU partners in the race to distance itself from Russian oil, gas and coal. has been
In another major reversal, Scholz has pledged to invest 100 billion euros ($107 billion) in modernizing Germany’s military, which is seen as chronically underfunded during the Merkel era.
Scholz, a Social Democrat who served as finance minister in Merkel’s previous coalition government, has also vowed to spend more than two percent of annual GDP on defense, surpassing NATO’s goal.
Merkel backed the decisions of her successor, saying that power is “the only language that Putin understands”.
During the interview, Merkel – who is hugely popular in Germany – also offered a rare glimpse into her personal life since retiring, spending time by herself on the Baltic Sea coast, taking walks and catching up on her reading.
After 30 years in politics, Merkel said she enjoys not rushing from appointment to appointment.
“Personally, I’m doing well,” she told the audience, even though she was feeling sad about the war in Ukraine, “like so many others”.
“I imagined my time in office a little differently,” Merkel said.
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