Former Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday defended her refusal in 2008 to initiate the process of admitting Ukraine to NATO in the face of criticism from current President Volodymyr Zelensky The former German official, who left politics at the end of 2021, says in a short statement published by her spokesperson that she “assumes her decisions from the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest”.
In a video message on Sunday evening, Volodymyr Zelensky criticized NATO’s “hidden refusal” in 2008 to welcome Ukraine into its ranks because of the “absurd fear of certain political leaders towards” Moscow. The latter “thought that by rejecting Ukraine, they could appease Russia”, criticized the Ukrainian president.
At the NATO summit in Bucharest, in April 2008, Germany spoke out against the launch of the accession process for Ukraine and Georgia, a position shared by President Sarkozy, considering that it were not stable enough democracies. “We don’t blame the West. We do not blame anyone other than the Russian military (…) and those who gave them orders,” Zelensky added in his message on Sunday evening.
Zelensky invites Merkel “to visit Boutcha”
The Ukrainian president also suggested to Angela Merkel, today without official function, as well as to the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy to go to Boutcha, a city north-west of kyiv recently taken over by the Ukrainians, where many civilians were killed. He invites them “to visit Boutcha and see what the policy of concessions towards Russia has led to”.
“In view of the atrocities uncovered in Bucha and other places in Ukraine, all efforts by the government and the international community to stand with Ukraine and end Russia’s barbarism and war against Ukraine have the full support of the former Chancellor,” Angela Merkel’s spokesperson replies in her message.
Merkel criticized for her policy towards Russia
The Chancellor, who remained at the head of Germany for 16 years, has hardly spoken since the start of the conflict in Ukraine. A few months after her departure from power, she is now being criticized for having lacked firmness towards President Vladimir Putin and her policy towards Russia is the subject of severe criticism, including in his side.
The conservative leader, who governed for several years with the Social Democrats in a grand coalition, is also criticized for having made Germany dependent on Russian gas, which before the war represented more than half of the country’s imports.