Overview

• Angela Merkel told the Hungarian outlet Partizán that she and Emmanuel Macron sought a new EU channel to speak directly with Vladimir Putin in June 2021, which she says was opposed by Poland and the Baltic states.
• She argued the pandemic’s halt to face‑to‑face diplomacy, including Putin’s absence from the 2021 G20, undercut compromise efforts in the run‑up to Russia’s 2022 invasion.
• Merkel defended the 2015 Minsk agreement as imperfect but stabilizing, saying it calmed the situation through 2021 and gave Ukraine time to strengthen, while noting Putin no longer took it seriously by mid‑2021.
• Polish President Andrzej Duda rejected any suggestion of Polish culpability and warned against talks that could legitimize Putin, and former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki castigated Merkel’s remarks on X.
• Coverage of the YouTube‑published interview highlights criticism that her account downplays Russia’s ongoing aggression since 2014 and the documented casualties in eastern Ukraine prior to the full‑scale invasion.