In an interview with the Hungarian online channel, “Partizan” Merkel said that she thinks that Coronavirus “changed world policy” and it cannot be said whether “Putin would attacked Ukraine if there was no pandemic.”
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Putin did not take part in the G20 summit in 2021, because he was so afraid of Coronaviru's pandemic. And if you can't meet, if you can't confront the differences in face to face, you can't find any new compromises – said the former German Chancellor.
Macron and Merkel wanted a new format. “Poland no”
Merkel estimated that although the Minsk agreement of 2015 “was not perfect” and Russia “never really warned him”, “they brought some calming down”. Thanks to this, Ukraine between 2015 and 2021 could “gather strength and defend better”.
The former leader of German Christian Democrats said that in June 2021 she had the impression that Putin “no longer treats the Minsk agreement seriously”. That is why, together with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, “she wanted a new format” to “talk to Putin directly as the EU.”
– But not everyone supported it. First of all, the Baltic and Poland were opposite because they were afraid that there was no common policy towards Russia. In my opinion, we should work on such a common policy. (…). Then I gave up the position, and then Putin's aggression began, “Merkel recalled.
