Angela Merkel’s new book shares insights on Russia policy and dealing with Putin

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel defends her cautious approach to Russia and her opposition to Ukraine's swift NATO membership in advance excerpts from her forthcoming book, set to be published next week.

In Freedom. Memories 1954-2021, Merkel also provided insights from her conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and explained why she opposed offering membership action plans (MAP) to Ukraine and Georgia during a key NATO 2008 summit in Bucharest.

“I thought it was an illusion to assume that the MAP status would have protected Ukraine and Georgia from Putin's aggression, that this status would have had such a deterrent effect that Putin would have accepted … without doing anything,” Merkel wrote, arguing that such a move could have triggered a military response from Russia to make it impossible for Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO.

Merkel acknowledged the strong desire of Central and Eastern European nations to join NATO swiftly after the Cold War, seeking integration with the Western community. However, she emphasized that the situations of Ukraine and Georgia differed significantly from those of other former Soviet states admitted to NATO in 1999 and 2004.

“The Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet was stationed on the Crimean Peninsula, which is part of Ukraine's territory, and the corresponding contract between Ukraine and Russia ran until 2017. Such an intertwining with Russian military structures had not previously existed in any of the NATO candidate countries,” Merkel noted, adding that at the time only a minority of Ukraine’s population supported the country's membership in NATO.

“In Georgia, there were unresolved territorial conflicts in the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which, according to NATO's general rules, were a reason not to grant the country's request for membership,” she added.

The conservative politician, who led Germany from 2005 to 2021, second in the modern era only to Helmut Kohl, faced significant criticism from opposition parties and some international observers for her cautious approach to Russia and her energy policies. Critics argued that her government's reliance on Russian oil and gas imports, and her preference for diplomatic engagement with Moscow, left Germany vulnerable to Russian influence. However, Merkel consistently defended her approach as a necessity for maintaining peace and stability in Europe.

-Russia not ‘disappearing from the map’

In her memoir, Merkel offered candid reflections on her interactions with Putin, saying he was consistently confrontational. She said Putin was "always on guard not to be treated badly, and ready to lash out at any time.”

Merkel recounted numerous instances where Putin would attempt to intimidate or unsettle her during their meetings, including bringing his dog to a meeting despite knowing Merkel's fear of dogs.

"You could find all of this childish or reprehensible; you could shake your head at it. But that didn't make Russia disappear from the map," Merkel stressed. She defended her policy of maintaining open communication channels with Moscow, continuing diplomatic talks to ease tensions and pursue peaceful solutions, despite the numerous challenges and provocations.

“Many Central and Eastern Europeans had little motivation to invest in relations with Russia at all. They seemed to wish that the country would simply disappear, that it would not exist. I could hardly blame them, since they had suffered under Soviet rule for a long time,” Merkel said.

“But Russia, with its nuclear weapons, exists. It was and is geopolitically indispensable, not least because, together with the US, France, Great Britain and China, it is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto power,” she added.

Merkel pointed out that Putin saw a potential NATO enlargement with Ukraine as a “declaration of war” against Moscow, he was determined to prevent this from occurring, and his policies were focused on making Russia a global power again.

“Since Putin became president of his country in 2000, he had done everything he could to make Russia a force to be reckoned with on the international stage, one that no one could ignore, especially the US,” Merkel wrote.

“He was not interested in building democratic structures or prosperity for all through a well-functioning economy, either in his country or elsewhere,” she continued.

“He wanted Russia to be an indispensable pole in a multipolar world after the end of the Cold War. To achieve this, he drew primarily on his experience in the field of intelligence services,” she added.

Merkel's memoir is set to be released next Tuesday.

The book will initially be published in German by Kiepenheuer & Witsch, with translations planned for several major languages including English, French, and Spanish.

The international editions are expected to hit bookstores in early 2025.