Russia would have attacked Ukraine sooner if it had started moving towards NATO in 2008 – Merkel

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested that if Ukraine had started its movement towards NATO in 2008, Russia would have launched a war against it earlier.

In the interview with the BBC on the eve of the publication of her memoirs, Merkel strongly defended her decisions during her time in office. She believes that the war in Ukraine would probably have started earlier and been even worse than it is now.

"We would have seen military conflict even earlier. It was completely clear to me that President Putin would not have stood idly by and watched Ukraine join Nato. And back then, Ukraine as a country would certainly not have been as prepared as it was in February 2022," Merkel said.

She also expressed concern about Vladimir Putin's new threats to use nuclear weapons.

"We must do everything possible to prevent the use of nuclear weapons," the former German Chancellor said.

"Thankfully, China also spoke about this a while back. We shouldn't be paralysed by fear, but we must also acknowledge that Russia is the biggest, or alongside the US, one of the two biggest nuclear powers in the world," Merkel added.

In a recent interview with Spiegel, Merkel said that Putin had no intention of attacking Ukraine at the beginning of his presidency and that his plan had evolved over the years, including in response to Western behaviour.

She also expressed her indignation at being made a scapegoat for the war in Ukraine.