Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected accusations that she holds the Baltic states and Poland partly responsible for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, writes Politico.
Merkel told the German public media outlet Phoenix that the statements attributed to her can only be called fake news, because nothing like that was said at all, and what she said was misinterpreted. The former chancellor said: “It was simply a discussion about chronological developments, as they already appear in my book “Freiheit”. For a whole year, no one had an issue with it … And then a big uproar arose because hardly anyone reads the original anymore.”
Asked if she wanted to blame Poland or the Baltic states for the outbreak of the war, Merkel replied that that was not the goal.
She emphasized that everyone, including herself, failed.
In an October interview with Hungarian media outlet Partizán, Merkel mentioned the Baltic states and Poland’s refusal to allow her, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to hold a trilateral meeting as Moscow began deploying its army to the Ukrainian border in the summer of 2021.
The reaction from the Baltics and Poles was sharp, and the politician’s statements were perceived as an accusation of allowing Russia to invade Ukraine.
Merkel elaborated on her statement on the 27th of November, noting that a few days before she initiated talks with the Kremlin in 2021, then-US President Joe Biden had met with Putin: “And I simply didn’t think it was good that we Europeans were not also seeking a conversation with Putin and were leaving that entirely to the American administration.” She added that this was why she initiated the talks, but that the idea had been opposed. Merkel stressed that she is not blaming anyone for the war.
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