Merkel in her memoirs justifies slowing down Ukraine's path to NATO

In her memoirs, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel explains her actions to slow down Ukraine's movement on the path to join NATO.

As reported by Die Zeit, Merkel wrote in her memoirs that she had tried to slow down Ukraine's desire to join NATO as soon as possible, as she already feared a military response from Russia.

In the book, she recalled the decisive NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, when a plan to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Georgia was discussed.

"I understood the desire of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to become NATO members as soon as possible, but the accession of a new member was supposed to bring more security not only to them but also to NATO," Merkel said in the book.

The then Chancellor also saw risks in the treaty-based presence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

"None of the candidates for NATO membership had ever had such a close relationship with Russian military structures before," she said.

Angela Merkel first became a member of the Bundestag in 1990, and from 2000 to 2018, she was the leader of the right-wing conservative Christian Democratic Union. For 16 years, up until the 2021 elections, she was the permanent Chancellor of Germany, but decided not to run again. 

During her tenure, Angela Merkel was considered one of the most influential politicians in Europe and the world.

However, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Merkel was sharply criticised for her policy of appeasement of Russia, her increasing dependence on Russian gas and her refusal to admit her mistakes in office.