Merkel Reveals Reason For 'complicated Relationship' With Putin

• 26.09.2025, 18:49

The former FRG chancellor said she is on opposite sides of the barricades with the Russian dictator.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken about her difficult relationship with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and her fundamentally different views on the collapse of the Soviet Union, which put the two leaders "on opposite sides of the barricades." She shared these memories with Spiegel.

"Putin always looked at the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in a completely different way than I did," Merkel said.

The former chancellor said that in one of his first conversations with her, Putin said that he considered the collapse of the Soviet Union to be "the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century."

"What you now call the greatest catastrophe is the happiness of my life," Merkel recalled her response.

The politician noted that it was clear to her even then that such a position put her and Putin "on opposite sides of the barricades."