Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Poland and the Baltic countries share responsibility for Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Points of attention
- Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel accuses Poland and Baltic countries for contributing to Russia's invasion of Ukraine by their stance on EU-Russia relations.
- Merkel's attempt to create a new negotiation format with Putin faced resistance from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, leading to a failure to establish direct EU talks with the Russian President.
Merkel accused the Baltic countries and Poland of Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Merkel stated that the position of these countries led to a deterioration in relations between the EU and Russia, which ultimately provoked the war in Ukraine.
The politician said that in 2021 she tried to create a new format for direct EU negotiations with Vladimir Putin, because, as she admitted, "Putin no longer took the Minsk agreements seriously."
At the same time, according to the former Chancellor, it was Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia that opposed this initiative — "out of fear that we will not have a unified policy towards Russia."
In any case, it didn't happen. Then I left my position, and Putin's aggression began.
Angela Merkel
Former German Chancellor
However, Merkel did not mention that during the Minsk Agreements from 2015 to 2021, Russia continued the war in Donbas, and preparations for a full-scale invasion began in the spring of 2021 — long before her departure from politics.
In addition, she stated that the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to the start of the war in Ukraine.
We couldn't meet anymore because Putin was afraid of the coronavirus pandemic. If you can't meet, if you can't discuss differences in person, then you can't find new compromises.
There has been a reaction from Poland and Estonia regarding the ambiguous statement of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Merkel's accusations were criticized in the Estonian parliament, with Marko Mikkelson, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, saying Merkel's words "cast a shadow" on her tenure as chancellor.
Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also spoke out sharply on this issue.
Angela Merkel, with her thoughtless interview, proved that she is one of the German politicians who has done the most harm to Europe over the past century.
