Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her legacy on Ukraine in a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday. In her first major interview since leaving office, Merkel condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but said she refused to apologize for her policies towards Moscow.
Speaking on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she said: "In my view, what happened was not just unacceptable, but also a major mistake from Russia."
"It's an objective breach of all international laws and of everything that allows us in Europe to live in peace at all. If we start going back through the centuries and arguing over which bit of territory should belong to whom, then we will only have war. That's not an option whatsoever."
Merkel conceded that there could have been a harsher response to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, but said that serious steps had been taken. She cited Russia's exclusion from the Group of Leading Industrial Nations (G8) and NATO's stipulation that members spend 2% of GDP on defense.
Merkel also defended her opposition to Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO in 2008.
She said that if NATO had granted them membership, Russian President Vladimir Putin could have caused "enormous damage in Ukraine." She also cited systemic corruption issues in Ukraine.
"President Zelenskyy is unbelievably bravely fighting against corruption, but at the time, Ukraine really was a country governed by oligarchs, and so there you can't just say "ok tomorrow we'll take them into NATO," she said.
"I don't blame myself for not having tried hard enough," Merkel responded to a question about how much she could have done to prevent an escalation with Russia. "Fortunately, I tried sufficiently. It is a great sadness that I did not succeed."
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