Yuri Kobzar21:55, 22.11.24

The former German Chancellor wrote memoirs in which she tried to share her vision of why Europe came to a major war.

Donald Trump was fascinated by Vladimir Putin during his first term as president, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has revealed in her yet-to-be-published memoirs.

In an excerpt from her memoirs published by the newspaper Die Zeit , Merkel spoke about her visit to the United States in 2017. 

In a private conversation without outsiders present, Trump, then the US president, asked her a series of questions.

“Including my East German background and my relationship with Putin. He was obviously very fascinated by the Russian president. In the years that followed, I had the impression that politicians with authoritarian and dictatorial traits had bewitched him,” Merkel writes.

Merkel wrote memoirs

As UNIAN reported, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel told in her memoirs how she prevented Ukraine from quickly joining NATO  in 2008 because she feared a military response from Vladimir Putin. 

She noted that the admission of a new member to NATO should benefit not only the joining country, but the entire bloc as a whole. However, in the case of Ukraine, Merkel saw risks in the fact that a country on whose territory there is a Russian military base – the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea – could become a NATO member. Merkel also emphasized that in 2008, when this issue was discussed, most Ukrainians did not want to join NATO.

(C)UNIAN 2024