Merkel does not consider herself responsible for Putin's war against Ukraine

The former chancellor said this in an interview with Spiegel magazine, Ukrinform reports.

When asked by journalists whether she felt that she was being scapegoated for this war because of the blocking of Ukraine's candidacy status at that summit, Merkel replied: “It's not just a feeling, it's the truth.”

The former chancellor recalled Volodymyr Zelensky's invitation to her and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to come to Bucha after the horrific massacre, “obviously implying” that their position in Bucharest had caused the tragedy.

She called it a “killer argument” that she is accused of “vetoing” Ukraine's membership in NATO. The former head of the German government believes that Putin would not have accepted the temporary status as a deterrent.

“I admire Zelensky for his courage and determination during almost three years of war. But I do not agree with him on Bucharest,” Merkel said. She noted that she had warned over and over again that Putin believed there was a threat to Russia's existence and had tried to keep other former Soviet republics under his control wherever possible by fomenting conflicts.

At the same time, Merkel stated that she considered it necessary to try to resolve conflicts with Russia peacefully.

She admitted that since meeting Putin in 2000, she “never had any illusions about him.”

“He has always had dictatorial tendencies, and his smugness has often upset me. But I don't think he intended to attack Ukraine one day when he took office in 2000. Rather, this is a development where we in the West also have to ask ourselves whether we have always done the right thing,” Merkel said.

At the same time, she clearly emphasized that nothing can justify Putin's attack on Ukraine. Merkel also assured that she had used all her strength to prevent the current situation, trying to stop Russia's advance in eastern Ukraine at the Minsk talks in 2015.

When asked whether she now recognizes that she did not stop the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project from Russia, Merkel said that she considered one of her tasks to be to obtain cheap gas for the German economy.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, a memoir by the former chancellor, who headed the government of Europe's most powerful country, will soon be published. The 736-page book is called “Freedom”.

Photo: euroua.com