Former German chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her efforts to make peace with Russia, in her first interview since the war in Ukraine clouded the legacy of her time in power.
Mrs Merkel left office to much acclaim last year, but events in Ukraine have exposed what critics see as flaws in her record: an unchecked Russia, an ailing German military and a power grid reliant on Siberian fossil fuels.
Her overtures to Moscow have been described as a failure by some of her former ministers, and her successor Olaf Scholz turned a page on the Merkel era by scrapping the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and ordering a military refurbishment.
Interviewed at a Berlin theatre on Tuesday, she admitted she was never able to reconcile a Russian leadership nostalgic for the Soviet days with western powers, meaning it was “never possible to truly end the Cold War”.
But she said it had been right to try diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in power throughout her 16-year term.
“It’s a great shame that it didn’t succeed, but I don’t blame myself for having tried,” said Mrs Merkel, 67. "I don't see that I should now say it was wrong, and I won't apologise."
She defended her decision to block Ukraine’s Nato membership at a summit in 2008, recalled bitterly by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a moment when western powers failed to stand up to Russia.
Ukraine was not a stable democracy back then, was "ruled by oligarchs" and Russia would not have tolerated its accession to Nato, said Mrs Merkel, who urged her critics to consider the circumstances at the time.
But she insisted she was not defending Mr Putin or his worldview, describing the invasion of Ukraine as tragic, inexcusable and a breach of international law.
Angela Merkel through the years - in pictures
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After a long goodbye, Angela Merkel finally reached the end on Wednesday of her 16-year term as Germany’s first female chancellor, Europe’s most powerful leader and one of the world’s most durable crisis managers. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel poses with ministers and other members of her government after a cabinet meeting in Berlin on November 24, 2021. AFP -
Mrs Merkel receives a bouquet of flowers from Olaf Scholz as she arrives for probably her last weekly cabinet meeting on November 24. Getty Images -
From right to left, US President Joe Biden, Ms Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pose before a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome, in October 2021. AP -
Mrs Merkel visiting flood-ravaged areas to survey the damage and meet survivors in July 2021, in Schuld, near Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel addressing the nation via a video statement about the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, on March 18, 2020. It was the first time in her 15-year tenure as chancellor that Mrs Merkel addressed citizens directly via a televised statement other than her New Year's Eve message. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel speaks to China's President Xi Jinping and Russia's President Vladimir Putin during a group photo session in front of Japan's Osaka Castle, at the G20 summit in June 2019. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel deliberates with former US president Donald Trump on the sidelines of the June 2018 G7 summit in Canada. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel and Mr Putin meet at Schloss Meseberg palace, the German government retreat, in August 2018. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel wears safety goggles during a visit to the European Astronauts Centre in Cologne, in 2016. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel poses for a selfie with Anas Modamani, a refugee from Syria, as she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for migrants and refugees in September 2015, in Berlin. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel speaks with former US president Barack Obama during a G7 summit in 2015. AP Photo -
Mrs Merkel and German President Joachim Gauck celebrate with the German national football team after its 1-0 victory in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Final match against Argentina in 2014. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel waves at an election campaign rally for federal elections in Dusseldorf, in 2013. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel smiles as she sits in the chancellor's chair for the first time at the German lower house of parliament in November 2005. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel raises her fists at the Lower Saxony Christian Democratic Party's annual general meeting in 2005. Getty Images -
Mrs Merkel speaks at the CDU party congress in December 2003, in Leipzig. Getty Images
Russia's invasion in February marked a dramatic escalation of the eight-year conflict in eastern Ukraine. Mr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces were mounting a "heroic defence" of the Donbas, the focus of recent fighting.
Ukraine said it was still holding back an assault on the city of Severodonetsk but being pounded with mortars, artillery and rocket-propelled grenade launchers by Russian troops.
Mr Zelenskyy claimed that more than 31,000 Russian troops had died in more than 100 days of what he described as a "completely pointless war".
Mrs Merkel said the Minsk peace process between Ukraine and Russia, brokered by Germany and France but now in tatters, had bought time for Ukraine to develop as a country.
While never fully successful, the 2015 accords "brought some calm", and the defiance of Mr Zelenskyy and today's Ukraine showed how the country had changed, she said.
She said sanctions on Russia could have been tougher after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but said she had supported keeping them in place in subsequent years.
But she said there was no way to avoid dealing with Mr Putin, because Russia was too big to ignore.
"I can't pretend he doesn't exist," she said. "Before you start waging war with Russia, you have a duty to try everything diplomatically ... we have to find a way to coexist despite all our differences."
Ukraine-Russia conflict latest - in pictures
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British citizens Aiden Aslin, left, and Shaun Pinner, right, and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim, centre, sit behind bars in a courtroom in the breakaway eastern Ukrainian enclave of Donetsk. The three were sentenced to death by pro-Moscow rebels for fighting on Ukraine's side. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier fires a machine gun near the town of New York in the breakaway Donetsk enclave. Reuters -
The gutted remains of cars lie along a road during heavy fighting in Severodonetsk. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers ride an armoured vehicle near the city of Bakhmut, in the breakaway Donetsk enclave. EPA -
Ukrainian soldiers and members of civilian demining organisations take part in a training exercise for bomb disposal experts in Peja, Kosovo. Getty -
Volunteers clear debris near a damaged shopping mall after night shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. EPA -
A man walks past a college on fire after a strike in Lysychansk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP -
Ukrainian service members near the town of Soledar. Reuters -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. AFP -
Residents kneel during a funeral procession for senior lieutenant Vasyl Herych, 31, of the 15th Separate Mountain Assault Battalion, who was killed in Perechyn, Ukraine. Reuters -
People hide in a bomb shelter in the city of Lysychansk in the Donbas region. AFP -
Ivan Sosnin, 19, surveys the damage to his home in Lysychansk. AFP -
Ukrainian troops repair a tank in the Donbas region. AFP -
Ukrainian troops fire rockets towards Russian positions at a front line in the Donbas region. AFP -
Volunteers from a Danish NGO demonstrate how to search for explosive devices with help of a loop metal detector, outside the town of Ichnia in Ukraine. Reuters -
A firefighter takes a break after putting out a fire at a house in a district of Kharkiv that was bombed by Russian forces. Reuters -
Plumes of smoke rise from a house on fire after a military strike by Russian forces in Kharkiv. Reuters -
The damaged house of Inna Bobryntseva, a woman who died during Russian shelling, in Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials exhumed her body from her backyard as part of an investigation into war crimes. Reuters -
A man moves items from a damaged shop in Kharkiv after a Russian military strike the night before. Reuters -
Civilian militia men hold shotguns during training at a shooting range on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AFP -
A woman walks by a destroyed apartment building in the town of Borodyanka. AFP -
Rescuers dismantle collapsing structures of a heavily damaged 16-storey residential building in the Saltivka district of Kharkiv. AFP -
A Ukrainian bomb disposal worker carries unexploded ordnance during mine clearance work in the village of Yahidne, in the liberated territories of the Chernihiv region. AFP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre, visits the military during a trip to the Zaporizhzhia region. AFP -
Ukrainian service members fire a shell from a M777 Howitzer in the Donetsk region as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen manoeuvre a tank near the frontline in the Donetsk region. AP Photo -
The remains of the Darnytsia Car Repair Plant damaged by missile strikes in Kyiv. EPA -
A couple embrace on Maidan square in Kyiv. AP Photo -
Smoke rises from a residential area in Kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said several explosions occurred following missile strikes in the Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts of the capital with no casualties reported. EPA -
A woman holds a poster showing Russian President Vladimir Putin during a protest against the war in Ukraine at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. AP -
Smoke rises in the background after Russian missile strikes in Kyiv. AP -
A Ukrainian serviceman pauses before going back to the frontline in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. AP -
Firefighters dampen down a rail facility in the Darnytsia district of Kyiv after a Russian air strike. EPA -
An elderly woman sits in front of destroyed houses after a missile strike, which killed a civilian, in the city of Druzhkivka in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP -
A man examines an apartment destroyed during shelling in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Five civilians were killed and 20 were injured. EPA -
Residents examine cars destroyed during shelling in Donetsk. EPA -
Civilians are evacuated from apartments destroyed during shelling in Donetsk. EPA -
A man looks on as smoke rises after explosions were heard in Kyiv. Reuters -
Residents chat in front of a destroyed building in Borodianka, as Russia's attacks on Ukraine continue. Reuters -
A monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, damaged by shelling in Borodianka. Reuters -
Men scavenge a burnt Russian military vehicle for parts and scrap metal in Novyi Bykiv. Getty -
A crater and a destroyed building after a rocket attack on a small airfield near Kharkiv. EPA -
Ukrainian howitzers in action at an undisclosed location. AFP -
A girl rides a scooter past a destroyed building in the village of Horenka, Kyiv. AFP -
Pope Francis hugs a child during a meeting at the Vatican with children with disabilities and Ukrainian children who fled their country. Reuters -
Ukrainian emergency works at a damaged building following shelling in Kharkiv. AP -
Members of a medical rescue team gather inside their temporary base in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. AP -
A woman sits at a destroyed bus station in the city of Mariupol. AFP -
Residents are evacuated from Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine. AP
Mrs Merkel, a Russian speaker who grew up in communist East Germany, promoted trade ties with Russia during her term in office and defended Nord Stream 2 as a purely economic project despite criticism from Washington.
Building on the work of her even more Kremlin-friendly predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, her policies reflected a longing by many German politicians to heal the scars of the past by making peace with Russia.
She won four successive elections in Germany and was widely admired for her calm, reassuring style, remaining the country’s most popular politician until the end of her term.
However, her detractors had long accused her of lacking the vision to tackle deep-rooted problems, such as an energy dependence on Russia that has slowed Germany's efforts to punish the Kremlin over Ukraine.
She also defended avoiding the spotlight as questions mounted over her record. A trip to Florence while Mr Zelenskyy blamed her in part for the grisly discoveries in Bucha "made clear that I am no longer chancellor", she said.
