Former Chancellor of Germany, interviewed the BBC and spoke about the war in Ukraine, the Russian President’s nuclear threats and the role she played so that Kiev would not join NATO. Angela Merkel pointed out in a categorical way that the agreements she made with Vladimir Putin to supply Russian gas, were intended to help German companies and maintain peace with Moscow,. In fact, the former German Chancellor argued that the war in Ukraine would have started earlier if it had not blocked Ukrainians’ NATO membership. What he said about the war in Ukraine “We would have seen this military conflict sooner. It was clear to me that President Putin would not stay with his hands crossed and would not allow Ukraine to join NATO. After all, Ukraine [in 2008] was not so prepared to enter the North Atlantic Alliance as it was in February 2022,” Merkel said. However, Ukrainian President, Volontimir Zelenski, disagrees with this view and described the decision of Merkel and then French President Nicolas Sarkozy as a “wrong calculation” encouraging Russia to exert further pressure on West and Kiev. In rare, he also said he is concerned with the Russian President’s threats to the use of nuclear weapons. Putin’s nuclear threats “We must do everything we can to prevent the use of nuclear weapons, ” she said. He then added that: “Luckily China was recently placed on the issue. We should not be afraid but recognise that Russia is with the US the largest nuclear forces in the world.” Despite enjoying high rates of popularity during most of her tenure, Angela Merkel is forced to defend herself for her late reputation, at an interesting time, at which she publishes her memoirs, as she is faced with the consequences her policies have caused for 16 years. She claims that she has done everything she could to ensure peaceful means of cooperation with Russia and a reference point were the agreements for the supply of Russian gas, but they have caused energy dependence on Moscow, which the Kremlin used as a “geopolitan tool” according to Ukrainian President Zelensky. In fact, Mr Putin began his full invasion of Ukraine a few months after he left power. Russian gas For its part, Merkel said that she went ahead with these agreements on the one hand to support German business interests and on the other to secure peaceful ties with Moscow. Several Eastern European countries and member states of both the EU and NATO disagreed strongly with these decisions. The former German Chancellor insists that she tried to limit Russian attacks on Ukraine using diplomacy and negotiations, but eventually failed, as she admits. At the same time, the German industry has been disproportionately affected by sanctions on Russian energy and is forced to look for other suppliers, resulting in Berlin now buying expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG). Merkel concluded by saying that a new era has emerged “unfortunately” in relations between Europe and Russia, following the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began a few months after leaving power.
Merkel: I prevented the war from erupting in Ukraine earlier – What he said about Putin’s nuclear threats
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