LONDON, November 25. /TASS/. The decision not to grant Ukraine NATO membership at the bloc’s 2008 summit was the right one because it could have pushed Russia into military action, the former German chancellor said.

“We would have seen a military conflict even sooner. It was quite clear to me that President Putin would not have stood idly by and watched Ukraine join NATO. And at the time, Ukraine as a country would certainly not have been as prepared as it was before February 2022”, stressed Angela Merkel in an interview with. BBC.

Regarding the current stage of the conflict in Ukraine, the former German chancellor stressed the need to prevent the use of nuclear weapons. “Fortunately, China also spoke about this some time ago. We must not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear, but we must also recognize that Russia is the largest, or together with the United States, one of the two largest nuclear powers in the world,” she said. stressed.

Merkel also said that when she was in power, she sought cooperation with Russia, particularly in the energy sector, as this was in line with Germany’s national interests. She regretted that the Russian special military operation in Ukraine had cooled relations between Europe and Moscow.

Speaking about US President-elect Donald Trump, Merkel stressed that it was important for Western leaders to “present them clearly and not be frightened, because Donald Trump can speak very frankly.” “He expresses himself very clearly. And if you do that, there’s a certain mutual respect. That’s my experience anyway,” she noted. The former chancellor added that world leaders she knew well continued to seek her advice. However, when asked if he missed politics, his answer was “no”.

In response to a question about the growing popularity of the Alternative for Germany party, the former German chancellor said the only way to combat far-right political forces was to put an end to illegal immigration. Merkel added that European countries should invest more in African countries to improve living standards there and reduce migration flows to the European Union.