By Connor Echols, Responsible Statecraft, 10/10/25

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel sparked controversy in Europe this week when she appeared to blame eastern European states for helping to instigate the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Merkel claimed in an interview with Hungarian media that, in June of 2021, she began to feel that Russian President Vladimir Putin “was no longer taking the Minsk Agreement seriously,” referencing a series of treaties that aimed to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in the Donbas. “That’s why I wanted a new format where we could speak directly with Putin as the European Union,” she said.

But that proposal stalled due to opposition from the Baltic states and Poland, who “feared we would not be able to develop a common policy towards Russia,” according to Merkel. “Then I left office and Putin’s war began,” she said.

The comments provide rare, new insights into the deterioration in Western relations with Russia that reached a crescendo in February 2022, when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Merkel’s account adds credence to arguments that the West failed to pursue all diplomatic avenues to prevent the war, which has now turned into a protracted conflict.

Eastern European leaders responded to the interview with indignation, arguing that efforts to negotiate with Putin were in fact to blame for the war. “I consistently told her that you cannot deal with Putin ‘in good faith,’ but she believed that the Baltic states were wrong,” said former Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, who served in that role from 2019 to 2023. “Putin acts the way he acts, and the only options for the West are either to submit or to resist.”

“Russia’s war against Ukraine is driven by one thing and one thing only: its refusal to accept the Soviet Union’s collapse and its unrelenting imperialist ambitions,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. “Russia alone is to blame for this aggression.”

Notably, Merkel didn’t place all of the blame on eastern Europe. The former chancellor also cited the pandemic as an aggravating factor in the deterioration of Western ties with Russia. “If you cannot meet, if you cannot discuss differences face to face, you won’t find new compromises,” she said.

Merkel appeared less hopeful about the possibility of diplomacy with Russia today, after more than three years of war in Ukraine. “Times have changed now, and we need to think about what position will best help us achieve peace,” she said. In Merkel’s view, that means that Europe will have to act “as a real deterrent” to Russia by strengthening its military position and supporting Ukraine.