Angela Merkel on Tuesday defended her Russia and Ukraine policy as chancellor between 2005 and 2021 and assured that she had no apologies to make.
Russia's "brutal attack, which disregarded international law" on Ukraine was "a great tragedy" for her, said the former CDU politician at an appearance in Berlin.
But diplomacy is not wrong "if it doesn't succeed".
That's why I'm not going to apologize either.
Merkel justified her refusal in 2008 to offer Ukraine the preliminary stage of NATO membership with reservations from the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.
Although she never shared Putin's assessment that Russia was "permanently humiliated" by the West, she knew "how he thinks".
You wanted to prevent an "escalation".
She wasn't blue-eyed.
"I didn't believe that Putin would be changed through trade," said the former chancellor.
She spoke of "Putin's hatred" of the democratic model.
At EU summits, she recalled "that he wants to destroy Europe".
In 2008 Ukraine was a corrupt country ruled by oligarchs that could not have been accepted into NATO.
Merkel rejected the accusation by the Ukrainian Ambassador Andrei Melnyk that she had pursued "appeasement" after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The Minsk Agreement negotiated by Germany “brought peace in”.
This is the only way Ukraine has been able to develop into the country that is now defending itself so bravely over the past seven years.
As a "mediator" in the Minsk process, Germany was unable to deliver weapons to Kyiv.
Merkel described her goal as finding a “modus vivendi” so that Germany and Russia could “coexist”.
"Perhaps," said Merkel, it was wrong to save so much in the Bundeswehr.
“Many” would have to hold their noses, including her.
The acquisition of armed drones failed because of their coalition partner SPD.
"It was a very tough struggle to invest in military deterrence at all." In terms of foreign policy, she trusts the new government under Olaf Scholz (SPD).
She wished her CDU party "all the best".