Merkel said Putin intimidated her and lied to her

Putin lied to German Chancellor Angela Merkel about his plans for Crimea, and when she asked him directly about a possible seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula, he blatantly lied to her. This is stated in her memoirs, excerpts of which were published by Politico.

Even after the "green men" came to Crimea, Putin continued to deny the presence of the Russian army on the peninsula," Merkel recalled.

The former German chancellor admitted that the lies had strained relations between Berlin and Moscow.

"I did not break contact with him, it was not an option for me, but since then, German-Russian government consultations, visits to various cities, in addition to special meetings in capitals, meetings between me and Putin in the framework of the St. Petersburg Dialogue were no longer held," she said.

She also admitted that Putin intimidated her. Merkel recalled her fear of dogs and pointed out that the Kremlin knew about it, but despite this, in 2006 Putin gave her a large plush dog, despite the fact that she is terrified of these animals. According to her, the head of the Kremlin knew about it. In addition, a year later, Putin brought a Labrador to a meeting with Merkel. She shared that she tried to ignore the dog, but was frightened.

Merkel emphasised that Putin thus wanted to see the fear on her face. Moreover, he "enjoyed the moment" and, like a real maniac, waited for his victim to panic.

The dictator's behaviour at the G8 leaders' meeting in 2015 was also an unpleasant moment.

Then he was supposed to join for an aperitif, but he made all the participants of the meeting wait for 45 minutes. Why did he do that? Who was he trying to prove something to? Or was he really in trouble? Outside I was chatting calmly with the others, but inside I was seething," she wrote.

Merkel stressed that Putin had behaved like a boor that evening and did not apologise for being late, but informed those present that he had just been drinking beer somewhere. She added that this was not the only time Putin tried to humiliate European leaders.

That's what I got for my kindness," Merkel summarised.