How does the former chancellor assess her Russia policy in the face of the Ukraine war? She rejects allegations of naivety towards Kremlin boss Putin. She was not naïve, but warned against his anti-Europe course. She will not apologize for attempts at diplomacy.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has denied allegations of naivety in her dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Putin's hate, Putin's - yes, one has to say - enmity goes against the western democratic model." She was "not naïve or anything," but warned: "You know that he wants to destroy Europe. He wants to destroy the European Union because he sees it as a precursor to NATO." She advocates strengthening military deterrence against Russia. "It's the only language Putin understands."
She rejected responsibility for the lack of investment in the Bundeswehr - and indirectly assigned it to the former coalition partner SPD. "I'm so glad that we're finally deciding, now that the whole world has armed drones, that we're going to buy some too. And it wasn't my fault that certain other things couldn't take place," Merkel said. And: "It was a very tough struggle to invest in military deterrence at all."
However, Merkel has admitted that Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 could have been dealt with more harshly. However, one cannot say that nothing was done at the time. She referred to Russia's exclusion from the group of leading industrialized nations (G8) and NATO's decision that every country should spend two percent of its gross domestic product on defense.
She strongly condemned the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. "This is a brutal attack that violates international law and for which there is no excuse," Merkel said in an interview broadcast by Phoenix TV. The attack was a big mistake on the part of Russia. The former chancellor said that it was not possible to create a security architecture that would have prevented the war.
She wonders if this could have been prevented. "If you could have done more to prevent such a tragedy - I already think this situation is a great tragedy - you could have prevented it. And that's why you ask yourself, of course, I keep asking myself these questions," she continued. The former chancellor has been accused of many omissions in her Russia policy. In the conversation, she defended her diplomatic course. "Diplomacy isn't wrong if it doesn't work. Well, I don't see that I have to say now: That was wrong, and I won't apologize for that either."
Merkel never shared Putin's assessment that Russia was "permanently humiliated" by the West. But of course you knew how he thought. Merkel pointed out that Putin had already told her during her visit to Sochi in 2007 that for him the collapse of the Soviet Union was "the worst thing of the 20th century". It was already very clear back then that "there is a great deal of dissent". And in the end it was never possible to "really end the Cold War".
In her own words, she has "complete trust" in the new federal government and her successor, Olaf Scholz. The transition of government went very well, said the ex-Chancellor six months after taking office. There are people at work who are not "newcomers" and who know the situation.
Merkel was chancellor for 16 years. It was very clear to her that it was the right time to stop. When asked how she was doing, Merkel said she was doing very well personally. But the "break" in the Russian war against Ukraine is also very preoccupying for her. She is sometimes depressed. Merkel talked about long hikes in winter on the Baltic Sea, she had listened to many podcasts. She didn't get bored, she got through the days really well. She used to only have "appointments, appointments, appointments". She is coping very well with her new phase of life.
She also gave insights into why she doesn't want to comment on current affairs after leaving office. "I am Chancellor a. D." She is not a "normal citizen". You have to be even more careful to say something about current things - whether the 9-euro ticket is good or not. It's not her job to give advice from the sidelines.
The former chancellor made her first public statement since the end of her 16-year term in December. At the event "So what is my country?" she asked the "Spiegel" author and writer Alexander Osang. So far, Merkel has spoken twice about the war in Ukraine. The day after the Russian invasion, she condemned it "in the strongest possible terms" and spoke of a "profound caesura". At a DGB event last week, she called the Russian war of aggression "barbaric."
