Overview

• In an interview with Hungarian outlet Partizán, former German chancellor Angela Merkel said Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland opposed her plan for an EU dialogue with Vladimir Putin in 2021.
• Merkel said the initiative was not implemented, she then left office, and Russia subsequently began what it calls a special military operation.
• RIA Novosti highlighted Merkel’s claim that resistance from Poland and the Baltics sabotaged efforts to seek a constructive channel with Moscow and indirectly contributed to the conflict.
• Valdai program director Timofey Bordachev said her statement would not influence Europe’s policy and argued that larger countries such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom hold primary responsibility.
• RIA Novosti also recalled Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s March position that the Minsk agreements laid out a workable path to a settlement.