Merkel Links COVID-19 Pandemic to Russia‘s Invasion of Ukraine, Cites Lack of In-Person Diplomacy
BUDAPEST, Hungary – Former German Chancellor angela Merkel has offered a surprising explanation for Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, attributing it in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption of in-person diplomacy. In a recent interview with the Hungarian format, merkel stated that the inability to meet face-to-face due to fears surrounding the virus prevented crucial dialog and compromise. “We could no longer meet,” Bild newspaper quoted Merkel as saying. “If you cannot meet, if you can’t keep an eye on the disagreements, you will not find any new compromises.” She asserted that video conferences were insufficient and that the pandemic was a “main reason” for the outbreak of the war.
merkel also addressed criticism regarding her prior policies toward russia, defending the 2015 Minsk Agreement as having initially “caused a calming down” and provided Ukraine with an prospect.However, she acknowledged that by June 2021, she believed Putin was no longer taking the Minsk Agreement seriously.
The former Chancellor further revealed that a lack of a unified approach to Russia within the European Union contributed to the escalating tensions. She stated that affected countries were “afraid” of “no common policy towards Russia” and drew a direct connection between the failure to establish such a policy and Putin’s subsequent aggression. “In any case, it did not come about. Then I was divorced out of office, and then Putin’s aggression started,” Merkel said.
The statements are likely to provoke strong reactions, notably in Poland and the Baltic States, which have long advocated for a firmer stance against putin and criticized what they perceived as a conciliatory approach from Germany. These nations, formerly under Soviet rule, consistently warned against appeasement.
Despite Merkel’s claims of a calming effect, fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists continued after the 2015 Minsk agreement, reportedly resulting in the deaths of over 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers by 2022. Russia also occupied Crimea in February 2014 and began preparing for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the spring of 2021.
