Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Poland and the Baltic countries bear joint responsibility for Putin's invasion of Ukraine. In an interview with the Hungarian publication Partizan, she 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, writes blick.ch.
Merkel says that in 2021 she tried to create a new format for direct negotiations between the EU and Vladimir Putin, because "Putin was no longer taking it seriously".
According to the Chancellor, it was Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia that opposed this initiative – "for fear that we would not have a unified policy towards Russia".
"In any case, this did not happen. Then I left office and Putin's aggression began", Merkel added.
"However, Merkel does not mention that during the period of the Minsk agreements from 2015 to 2021, Russia continued the war in Donbas, and preparations for a full-scale invasion began as early as the spring of 2021 - long before she retired from politics".
Furthermore, she emphasizes that the start of the war in Ukraine was also facilitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We could no longer meet because Putin was afraid of the coronavirus pandemic. "If you can't meet, if you can't discuss your differences in person, then you can't find new compromises," she notes.
Angela Merkel: Poland and the Baltic republics bear joint responsibility for Putin's invasion of Ukraine
Merkel says that in 2021 she tried to create a new format for direct negotiations between the EU and Vladimir Putin
Oct 6, 2025 17:36 428
