Merkel admits flaws in her policy towards Russia

BERLIN, 7 Dec. (DPA/EP) -

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted on Wednesday that she made mistakes when managing the deterrence policy against Russia during her tenure as head of the German Government and regretted that "she should have reacted more quickly to Russian aggressiveness".

Thus, he has referred to the occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, when Moscow announced the annexation of this territory and the NATO member states agreed to spend two percent of their Gross Domestic Product on defense.

"Germany has not reached the two percent target despite the increase," Merkel asserted before clarifying that "she did not make speeches in favor of this," something she now believes she should have done.

However, the then chancellor has ruled out that it was a mistake to approve the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which runs from Russia to Germany and is now not operational.

Merkel has clarified that banning the project would have "dangerously worsened the climate with Russia" and has stated that the dependence on Russian gas "is not due exclusively to this project but to the fact that less gas was supplied from Norway, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands".