Overview

• In a Partizan video interview, Angela Merkel said she and Emmanuel Macron sought in June 2021 an EU format to speak directly with Vladimir Putin that Poland and the Baltic states opposed.
• She connected the failure of that initiative and her departure from office to the start of Putin’s full-scale aggression, while defending the 2015 Minsk deal as having reduced open warfare and given Ukraine time.
• Merkel argued the COVID-19 era’s loss of in-person meetings was a principal factor behind Russia’s decision to attack, saying videoconferences were inadequate and Putin avoided direct encounters.
• German outlets note that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded between 2015 and 2021 and report that Russia began preparing a wider invasion in spring 2021.
• The interview was published on YouTube by the Hungarian outlet Partizan and is expected to prompt displeasure in Poland and the Baltic states, with early coverage not yet citing formal government responses; Merkel also said ultimate responsibility rests with Moscow.