Russia’s president says he did not want to cause the then German chancellor discomfort with his labrador Koni when the two leaders met in Sochi 17 years ago.
– Once again I appeal to her through the media and say: Angela, please forgive me, I didn’t want to make you nervous. On the contrary, I wanted to create a positive atmosphere for our conversation, says Putin according to several media at a press conference in Astana in Kazakhstan.
He claims that he did not know that Merkel was afraid of dogs, which she contradicts in her newly published autobiography “Freedom”. About the meeting in 2007, she writes that she tried to ignore the dog.
“I interpreted Putin’s mincing as he found pleasure in the situation. Did he simply want to see how a human reacts when he is crowded? Was it a small show of power? All I could think was: Keep calm, concentrate on the photographers, that’s soon over,” writes Merkel.
Putin now claims that he has learned before a possible new meeting.
– If you ever, and I realize it is unlikely, come back here, under no circumstances will I do it again, he says in Astana.
It is not the first time Vladimir Putin has apologized to Merkel. Eight years ago, in 2016, he told Bild magazine that he just “wanted to do something nice”.