Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (who served from 2005 to 2021) believes that current EU politicians should negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We were able to negotiate the settlement of Ukraine with President Putin only because we had political power, because we were the heads of the government," he said at a forum organized by the German broadcaster WDR, referring to the negotiations on the Minsk agreements.
"You must have power, and I personally would never have thought of asking a mediator to go to Minsk on my behalf and talk to Putin," Merkel said. "There are active politicians today, and such a thought would never occur to me," he added.
Earlier, the European publication Politico, referring to sources, reported that the names of Merkel, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and the former head of the European Central Bank (2011-2019) and former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi may represent the EU in the negotiations with Russia.
