Putin disappointed with what Merkel said

The remarks that former German Chancellor Angela Merkel made about the 2014 Minsk Agreements being an attempt to give Ukraine time could only confirm that Russia made the right decision to launch the special operation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said as a news briefing on December 9, TASS reports.

"Apparently, we got our bearings late, to be honest. Maybe we should have started all this earlier," Putin said.

According to him, the purpose of the Minsk-2 Treaty was to arm Ukraine and prepare it for hostilities.

Putin also called Merkel's statement completely unexpected and disappointing.

"Frankly, I did not expect to hear this from the former federal chancellor. I always assumed that the leadership of the Federal Republic was sincere with us," he concluded.

On December 7, Merkel said in an interview with Die Zeit that the Minsk Agreements were concluded to give Ukraine precious time and an opportunity to become stronger. According to the former chancellor, it was clear to all parties that the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine had not been resolved.