Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel denied the information that she accused Poland and the Baltic countries (including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) of being responsible for the Russia-Ukraine conflict that broke out in early 2022.
You have to see it as fake news, which means it is not what was said, Merkel told German public broadcaster Phoenix in an interview on November 27, stressing that her comments were misinterpreted.
Its simply a discussion of the process of going through time, as Ive presented in the book Freiheit. For a whole year, no one had any problems with that. Then suddenly there was a stir, just because almost no one reads the original anymore, she said.
When asked if she blamed Poland or other Baltic countries for the conflict, Merkel said: No. We are all a bit failures, me and everyone. We have all failed to stop this conflict, including our failures in negotiations with the Americans.
In an October interview with Hungarian news agency Partizan, Ms. Merkel emphasized that Poland and the Baltic countries refused to allow direct exchanges between her, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to Russian soldiers focusing on consolidating forces near the border with Ukraine in the summer of 2021.
The leaders of Poland and the Baltic countries have responded to Ms. Merkel's comments, saying that this means that she partly blamed them for the Russia-Ukraine conflict that broke out about half a year later.
On November 27, Ms. Merkel clarified her comments, emphasizing: A few days before I made this proposal at the European Council, US President Joe Biden met with President Vladimir Putin. And I just think it is not good for us Europe not to seek a dialogue with Mr. Putin, to leave it to the US government.
That is the reason I proposed this new initiative, and there were objections, the former German Chancellor added, stressing that her statement had no intention of blaming anyone for the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
