Merkel urges Europe to reopen Russia dialogue despite war

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe must attempt to reopen dialogue with Russia despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, sharply criticizing President Vladimir Putin for destroying the post-World War II security order during an interview with Romanian broadcaster Pro TV in Bucharest.

“There is absolutely no justification for Putin’s idea of restoring a defunct empire,” Merkel said in the interview conducted last week, adding that the February 2022 invasion would forever be linked to his name. “He destroyed the order that had been restored with great effort after World War II,” she stated.

Dialogue with Moscow 'unavoidable'

Merkel insisted that Russia remains a country with which Europe must attempt to reopen dialogue despite the legal violations committed by Moscow. “And Russia remains a country with which we must try to reopen a dialogue,” she said. “But as for the fact that he violated the principles of law: that fact cannot be overlooked. That is Putin’s legacy—or his terrible testament,” she added.

Tenure as West's Kremlin interlocutor

The conservative politician led Germany from 2005 to 2021, marking the longest tenure of any postwar chancellor after Helmut Kohl. Throughout that period, she combined public criticism of Moscow with an insistence that talking to the Kremlin was unavoidable. She became the West’s most frequent interlocutor with the Russian leadership by phone and repeatedly maintained that the conflict in eastern Ukraine could be settled only by political means.