Angela Merkel, the former Chancellor of Germany, has sought to shift some responsibility for Russia’s 2022 attack on Ukraine onto Poland and the Baltic nations in an attempt to protect her political legacy while promoting her memoir.
During a promotional visit in Hungary for her upcoming book, Merkel shared her views with Partisan media and offered a different angle on the events surrounding the invasion.
Reports from various media sources indicate that Merkel reiterated her stance that the 2015 Minsk Agreement, which was supposed to help end conflicts in Ukraine’s Donbas region, has been “relaxed.”
She mentioned that back in 2021, she realized that the agreement wouldn’t be seriously regarded by Putin, which led the European Union to seek a new path for peace talks.
Merkel pointed out Poland and the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—as “opposed” and claimed that the EU lacked a unified approach against Russia in these discussions.
“Ultimately, that did not happen. Then I took office and the invasion by Putin began,” Merkel reflected.
The former Chancellor’s assertion that the Minsk agreement was effective overlooks the ongoing clashes between Russia and Ukraine that persisted for years afterward, including the deaths or injuries of over 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers from 2015 to 2021.
Her effort to hold Poland and the Baltic nations partially responsible appears to be a strategy to deflect attention from her own actions prior to the 2022 invasion.
Even some former German officials, such as ex-Justice Minister Marco Bushman, highlighted that Merkel’s continued support for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline after Putin’s annexation of Crimea contributed to escalating tensions.
“Considering what we know today, continuing with Nord Stream 2 after Crimea’s annexation in 2014 was Germany’s role in igniting the conflict in Ukraine,” he stated post-invasion.
Merkel’s approach of combining green energy initiatives with reliance on Russian gas has faced criticism, including from Donald Trump, who suggested that Nord Stream 2 would effectively bind Germany to Putin.
Berlin dismissed Trump’s concerns, even finding humor in his comments at the United Nations.
The Merkel administration’s overconfidence regarding Russian energy issues came to light when a leaked intelligence report revealed that she believed her government wasn’t jeopardizing Germany’s gas security by approving Nord Stream 2.
This ultimately proved to be a grave miscalculation, as Russia cut off gas supplies months later in retaliation for EU sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.
