Angela Merkel recently enraged the Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk with a statement about relations with Russia. Now her next appearance followed. And Merkel raised the issue again – with the next irritating formulation.
Angela Merkel has carefully dosed her public appearances since the end of her chancellorship. Hardly anything has been heard from her since Olaf Scholz has been in office. But now Merkel has made two appearances in one week. First she was at the opening ceremony of the “Helmut Kohl Foundation”. Now she spoke at the ceremony for “1110 years of Goslar”.
And as at the beginning of the week, Merkel spoke again about the Ukraine war. She does not comment on the policies of the current federal government, said Merkel. But then she gave a hint. First she said, “February 24, 2022 marks a profound turning point”. After all, since the Russian war of aggression “the greatest violation of the principles of international law in Europe since the Second World War.
Then she added that long-term work would have to be done on a pan-European security architecture – “also including Russia” – even if this would require a lot of staying power Goslar the reunification.”
A remarkable statement, a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to announce the annexation of four more Ukrainian territories this Friday.
During her appearance at the “Helmut Kohl Foundation”, Merkel had said: If Kohl’s politics were applied to today, then “at the same time one would always think about the currently unthinkable, almost unimaginable – namely something like relationships with and with Russia can be developed again”.
The Ukrainian ambassador Melnyk then wrote on Twitter: “Hard to believe: the ex-chancellor, who made Moscow’s aggression against the Ukrainians possible with her years of pro-Putin coziness, shamelessly philosophizes about ”how something like relations with us and Russia are developing again can become”.
