Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Ukraine's path to NATO in 2008 would have provoked Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin to invade sooner.
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Photo – REUTERS/Michael Kappeler
The former head of the German government said in an interview with the BBC that if Ukraine had started its path to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2008, this would have provoked the Russian leader to begin an invasion of the neighboring state earlier, the NBN publication reports.
According to her, the Kremlin dictator “would not have stood aside” while watching Ukraine integrate into the Alliance, but would have unleashed a war against it earlier, which would have been worse than it is now. Merkel is convinced that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were not as prepared for an attack by Russian invaders as they were in February 2022.
The former German Chancellor also commented on Putin's new nuclear threats, saying that everything possible must be done to prevent the aggressor country from using such weapons.
She believes that the West should not be paralyzed by fear, but it should recognize that the terrorist state is one of the largest nuclear countries in the world.
Recall that in the summer, the media wrote that Merkel knew about Moscow's intention to “gas blackmail” Europe, but hid this information.
