The UK tabloid The Daily Mail reported that Merkel, in an interview with Hungarian publication Partizan, implied Poland and the Baltic states were indirectly responsible for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine because they prevented diplomatic relations between Russia and the European Union.

In her telling of history, Poland's refusal to support the Minsk Agreements, a pair of key international agreements between Russia and the EU, emboldened Putin to properly invade Ukraine in 2022. 

In 2021, Merkel called for a new format for the EU to speak directly to President Vladimir Putin.

"Some people didn't support this. These were primarily the Baltic states, but Poland was also against it," she is quoted as saying. The former chancellor added that these four nations were "afraid" that "we wouldn't have a common policy towards Russia."

Mihkelson (Reform), chairman of the Riigikogu's Foreign Affairs Committee, believes Merkel is not the only German politician to hold this view.

"Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with one of Angela Merkel's longtime political allies in Germany, who still holds a senior position today. He surprised me with the opinion that if the Baltic states had not prevented Merkel from meeting with Putin in the summer of 2021, we would not be where we are now in Ukraine. In other words, the same line that Merkel herself is now expressing publicly," Mihkelson wrote on social media on Monday in response to the article.

"Unfortunately, Merkel's stance shows how far apart we were — and in some ways still are today — from some of our most important allies in understanding the real cause of Russia's aggression and imperial wars," he added.

"If there was ever a time or a way to stop Putin, it could have happened at the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest. Unfortunately, it was Merkel who blocked the granting of a NATO Membership Action Plan to Ukraine and Georgia. Russia took that as a green light to begin its wars of aggression, first against Georgia and then against Ukraine," Mihkelson continued.

"There's no need to even start talking about the Nord Stream pipeline policy and feeding Russia's war machine," he added.

At the same time, Mihkelson called for maintaining unity among Western countries in confronting an aggressive Russia: "We must, of course, remember that Russia is just waiting for us to turn against each other as allies. Let's take this as a warning and move forward together, helping Ukraine to victory."

This is a new and unfortunately very low point from Angela Merkel: to blame the Baltic states and Poland for triggering Russia's imperial war.

Sadly, this casts a shadow over her entire period as Germany's chancellor. I won't even start talking about Nord Stream here. pic.twitter.com/fdlzmAy5tq

— Marko Mihkelson (@markomihkelson) October 6, 2025

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