Germany former chancellor Angela Merkel he said Thursday that he does not regret the decisions on the matter of Russia for gas supplies to Germany, explaining that the decisions were correct from the perspective of the time.
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Germany’s dependence on Russian gas is one of them Berlin weaknesses, which were clearly marked with Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
When Merkel was chancellor, she believed that Germany needed to increase gas imports to make up for the energy shortage resulting from the abandonment of nuclear power.
“It was also very rational and reasonable to obtain gas through pipelines from Russia, which was cheaper than liquefied gas from other parts of the world such as ASV, Saudi Arabia or KataraMerkel told reporters in Lisbon.
“Even during the Cold War, Russia was a reliable supplier of energy,” said the former chancellor. “And in that sense, I don’t regret my decisions at all. Rather, I think they were correct from the point of view of time.”
Merkel also rejected suggestions that her desire to do business with Russian President Vladimir Putin was an attempt to change Russia through trade.
“I never believed in such a thing as change through commerce, but what happened was communication through commerce.”
The Russian “brutal attack” for Ukraine it made it necessary to change the way Germany treats Moscow, and “the new government is doing it,” Merkel explained.
Since leaving the political scene, Merkel has rarely appeared in public, but has strongly condemned Putin’s war.
The former chancellor also admitted that he “has a lot of respect” for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
