Nov.17, 2014 (time.com)
After a night spent debating the Ukraine crisis with the Russian President, German Chancellor Angela Merkel came out more determined than ever to push the Kremlin out of Eastern Europe
Russia's President Vladimir Putin
looks on at a press conference following the G20 Leaders' Summit in Brisbane,
Australia.
During
a sppech on Monday, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel predicted a drawn-out confrontation with Moscow. Breaking
from her normally subdued political style, she even invoked the worst years of
the 20th century in describing the West’s conflict with Russia over Ukraine. “After
the horrors of two world wars and the end of the Cold War, this challenges the
peaceful order in Europe,” she said, referring to what she called Putin’s
“old-thinking” view of Eastern Europe as Russia’s stomping ground. “I am
convinced this won’t succeed,” she said. In the end, the West would win out
against the challenge emanating from Russia, “even if the path will be long and
hard and full of setbacks,” Merkel told a conference in Brisbane, Australia.
It
was in many ways the low point for Putin’s deepening estrangement from the
West. During the G20 summit of world leaders held in Brisbane over the weekend,
the Russian leader was broadly ostracized by the most powerful figures at the
table, and some of them were far less diplomatic toward Putin than Merkel has
been. In greeting Putin on Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
reportedly said, “I
guess I’ll shake your hand, but I have only one thing to say to you: you need
to get out of Ukraine.” Later that day, Merkel came to the Hilton Hotel in
central Brisbane for an unscheduled meeting with Putin that reportedly lasted almost
six hours, running well into Sunday morning. The subject was the conflict in
Ukraine, and according to the Kremlin, Putin did his best to “clarify in detail
the Russian approach to this situation.” But his efforts to win Merkel’s
sympathy – or at least her understanding – appear to have done the opposite. He emerged from their
encounter apparently so exhausted that he decided to leave the summit early,
saying he needed to get some sleep.
