Merkel, Putin differ on Navalny but vow to maintain dialogue
MOSCOW — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their sharply different views of Russia’s treatment of imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, democratic values and other major topics of dispute Friday but vowed to maintain a dialogue.
Merkel traveled to Moscow as she nears the end of her almost 16-year-long leadership of Germany. Despite deep disagreements, she has tried throughout her tenure to preserve close contacts with Putin, who has been in power for more than two decades.
Speaking after talks with Putin, Merkel reiterated a call for Navalny’s release, pointing out that the European Court of Human Rights had criticized his 2014 conviction as “clearly disproportionate” and “unacceptable.”
Putin rejected the criticism, as well as accusations of a crackdown on Navalny’s allies in the run-up to Russia’s Sept. 19 parliamentary election. As he has before, he attempted to turn the tables on the West by pointing to the prosecution of people who participated in storming the U.S. Capitol in January.
Putin also scathingly criticized the West over Afghanistan, saying the Taliban’s rapid sweep over the country has shown the futility of Western attempts to enforce its own vision of democracy.
Merkel urged Russia to use its contacts with the Taliban to press for Afghan citizens who helped Germany to be allowed to leave Afghanistan.
Another item on the agenda was the situation in eastern Ukraine, where Germany and France have sought to help broker a peaceful settlement to the fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists that has killed more than 14,000 people since 2014.
Merkel, who plans to visit Kyiv on Sunday, made clear that she hasn’t given up hope of progress in the coming weeks on long-stalled peace efforts in eastern Ukraine.
“I will work until my last day in office so that the territorial integrity of Ukraine can be ensured,” she said.
Putin pointed at the increasing number of cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine and asked Merkel to reaffirm to Ukrainian authorities the importance of honoring their obligations under a 2015 peace deal brokered by Germany and France.
“We have not yet achieved the aims we wanted to achieve in the Minsk agreement, but it is the format for talks that we have … and we should deal carefully with this format so long as we don’t have anything else,” Merkel said. “Every little bit of progress could be important, but the work we have to do is very, very hard, and there have been disappointments of the most varied kind.”
Merkel and Putin also discussed the nearly finished Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will carry natural gas from Russia to Germany. The project has angered the United States and some European countries, but the U.S. and Germany announced a deal last month to allow its completion.
Putin emphasized that it offers a much cheaper and safer transit route for Russian gas supplies to Germany and other EU nations.
Merkel noted her desire to see Russia extend its transit contract to pump gas via Ukraine after the current deal expires in 2024. Putin said Russia stood ready to negotiate an extension.