No, it wasn't looking back with regret.

On the contrary.

For six months after leaving office last December, the former Chancellor Angela Merkel publicly remained largely silent, only making the smallest of exceptions.

But they had already made it clear that she sees no reason to question her own actions in 16 years as chancellor on the currently most important issue, policy on Russia.

On Tuesday evening in Berlin, she confirmed this assessment during her first extensive public appearance.

Eckhart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

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Merkel sat in the "Berliner Ensemble" theater and spoke to the "Spiegel" journalist Alexander Osang.

It was mainly about their assessment of Russian politics under President Vladimir Putin and their dealings with him.

The war against Ukraine was a "big mistake," Merkel said, and the invasion of Russian troops was an "objective breach of all international law."

But what about her when she was still chancellor?

Merkel spoke of "great tragedy" in connection with the attack on Russia.

She wonders if that could have been prevented.

But she immediately gave the answer: "In retrospect, when I sum everything up, I'm actually glad that I don't have to blame myself for trying too little to prevent an event like the one that happened now." 

The former chancellor, who seemed calm and at peace with herself, even in a good mood and sometimes joking, did not come to present the very big balance of her 16 years in government, but almost exclusively to justify her Russia policy.

The Christian Democrat used two main arguments to justify her opposition to Ukraine's admission to NATO in 2008.

She was "very sure" that Putin "won't let that happen".

The Russian President could have done “enormous damage” in Ukraine back then.

"Backlog demand" in the Bundeswehr

Second, Ukraine was "not an internally democratically stable country" at the time.

Today's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is "fighting incredibly courageously" against corruption in his country.

But at that time it was a "country ruled by oligarchs," Merkel said.

There sat a former top politician who looked back very self-confidently on her actions in Russia policy.

"Well, I don't see that I have to say now: That was wrong, and that's why I won't apologize." She didn't deal with Russia naively.

She recalled that she had always warned that Putin wanted to destroy Europe because he considered it a "precursor to NATO".

After all, nothing happened after Russia occupied Crimea in 2014.

For example, Russia was excluded from the G8 group.

Still, Merkel admitted that something more could have been done for the Bundeswehr.

One could agree that there is a “pent-up demand” in the army.

But here, too, she delivered the but right away.

The military budget was increased significantly during her reign.

In addition, one assumed to go towards a peaceful world.

The main focus was not on their own defense.

Merkel expressly approved the suspension of conscription under Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.

Her conversations with soldiers revealed that this was the right decision for the troops.

Merkel expressly praised the fact that Guttenberg had used the word "war" for the deployment of the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan.

You can criticize a lot about Guttenberg, but that was good.

Question about Friedrich Merz

The former Chancellor allowed her successor Olaf Scholz to get off well.

She dutifully said that she wanted a CDU-led government.

But she expressed her "full confidence" in the new government.

When asked whether she had been called during the transition period and by whom, Merkel kept a low profile.

Even during her tenure, she always kept silent about her confidential phone calls.

If she felt "something is going completely wrong," she could have called a lot of people.

"I didn't have to."

A question about Friedrich Merz, the man who now leads the CDU and the Union faction in the Bundestag, could not be missing.

Doesn't it make her "crazy" that the man she once "elegantly got rid of" returned after 16 years as "the undead" and has now taken over the party.

Don't you wonder if that was your party?

Merkel said in this final part of the conversation that she would like to be a member of the CDU.

You and Merz must have been "a good vintage" because both would have wanted to be chairmen.

That happens in political competition.

The fact that Merz is now chairman after a membership decision by the CDU, "that's the way it is".

The event at which Merkel appeared was dedicated to a small book published by Aufbau Verlag.

"So what is my country?" is the title, and it contains three speeches by Merkel.

Actually, it's only about the one she held on October 3rd last year to mark the anniversary of reunification.

At the time, she was disappointed that her East German past was seen as ballast in the CDU.

It was a very personal speech, said Merkel on Tuesday evening.

She may only have been able to keep her at the end of her term because she had shown "a bit of vulnerability".