The former German Chancellor has “borderline obsession” with Russia, Andrey Melnik claims
Angela Merkel’s attitude towards Russia is “borderline obsession” and looks “almost perverse,” Andrey Melnik, Kiev’s former ambassador to Berlin said. He criticized the former chancellor for saying that Russia has a role to play in European security.
Melnik, the Ukrainian diplomat with a record of making controversial statements about officials and policies in Germany, blasted Merkel in a Twitter post on Friday morning.
“On the day [Russian President Vladimir] Putin steals 15% of Ukraine, Ms. Merkel raves about ‘involving’ Russia in the European security architecture,” he said, using the loaded epithets to describe her stance.
Melnik was reacting to a speech that the former chancellor delivered on Thursday in the town of Goslar, which celebrates its 1100th anniversary this year.
In her address, Merkel called the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine in late February a “turning point” and “the greatest violation of the principles of international law since World War II.” But a long-term pan-European security architecture can only work if it “also includes Russia” she stated.
Merkel voiced the same sentiment on Tuesday at the Chancellor Helmut Kohl Foundation in Berlin. During that appearance, she urged planning for “how relations to and with Russia could one day be redeveloped” after the conflict in Ukraine ends.
