The statements made by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the role of the Baltic States and Poland in allegedly provoking Russia’s aggression reflect a fundamental misunderstanding among certain Western politicians about the behavior and aims of dictator Vladimir Putin, former Latvian Prime Minister and current Senior Advisor on Geopolitical Affairs at the international strategic communications agency Kreab, Krišjānis Kari?š, told the Latvian news agency LETA.

Merkel stated that the inability to hold direct talks with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin influenced the course of subsequent events. According to her, the position of Poland and the Baltic States led to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Russia and the EU, which, the former chancellor claimed, paved the way for Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine a few months later.

He pointed out that

THERE HAD BEEN A WIDESPREAD ASSUMPTION IN THE WEST THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE TO INFLUENCE PUTIN’S ACTIONS,

even though events have clearly shown the opposite.

“Putin acts the way he acts, and the only options for the West are either to submit or to resist. It is surprising that the former German chancellor would say something like this today, when it should be obvious to everyone what kind of regime Russia is. I am glad that the new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, does not share Merkel’s views,” Kari?š said.

Speaking about the year 2021, Kari?š recalled that at that time there had been talk of a possible meeting between EU leaders and Putin. He noted that in September 2021, the Russian and Belarusian armed forces conducted the large-scale strategic military exercise Zapad, but instead of withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border, Russia continued to gradually increase its military presence until the invasion in 2022.

“At that time, many countries did not understand Russia — including Germany and the former chancellor herself. I consistently told her that you cannot deal with Putin ‘in good faith,’ but she believed that the Baltic States were wrong. I was well aware of Merkel’s views, but I am astonished that after everything that has happened in Ukraine, she still thinks this way,” Kari?š said.

HE FURTHER NOTED THAT TALKS WITH PUTIN HAVE NOW BEEN TAKEN UP BY U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP,

with a meeting having taken place in Alaska, but no peace has been achieved since Trump took office. Kari?š emphasized that for Latvians, this comes as no surprise, as peace in Ukraine will only be possible when Russia can no longer afford to continue the war, or when the counterforce becomes so strong that it is forced to retreat.

The former Prime Minister concluded that if the former German chancellor spoke about the Baltic States and Poland in such terms, it means that she still has not fully understood the situation.

As previously reported, according to Merkel’s version of events, Poland’s refusal to support the Minsk agreements — which were imposed on Kyiv in 2015 under direct military threat through mediation by France and Germany after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine — allegedly encouraged Putin to launch a renewed invasion in 2022.

The agreements, imposed on Ukraine with the help of Merkel and then-French President François Hollande, were in fact unacceptable to Kyiv, as they effectively granted Moscow control over Ukraine’s political processes.

However, in her interview, Merkel insisted that the Minsk agreements had provided Ukraine with several years of peace from 2015 to 2021 following its 2015 military defeat, and that their purpose had been to allow Kyiv to recover lost territories, consolidate its strength, and “become a different country.” Around 2021, Merkel said she had begun to feel that Putin no longer took the Minsk agreements seriously.

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