Poroshenko praises former chancellor
“Angela Merkel was our guardian angel”
2/2/2022, 8:13 p.m
The former President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, misses the support of the current federal government. In an interview with ntv, however, he expressly thanks former Chancellor Merkel.
In the current conflict with Russia, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wishes above all for the solidarity and unity of other nations: “In my experience, Putin will go as far as we allow him. And Putin will stop when he recognizes our strength, feels our unity and the solidarity of the whole world,” he said. Support for Ukraine is therefore “an investment in German and European security”.
In the interview, Poroshenko emphasizes the role played by Angela Merkel. “Germany and Angela Merkel, if you can use that word, were a guardian angel for Ukraine,” he said. “Thanks to Angela’s support and thanks to a leading role from Germany, we have an association agreement with the EU, which I signed in June 2014. It is only thanks to Germany’s leading role that we have a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement.”
Asked about the discussion about arms deliveries to Ukraine, Poroshenko said that these are “only an instrument for peace. Because with the understanding that Ukraine has such a modern form of weapons, Putin will think twice or three times before attacking us .”
Poroshenko was President of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019 and came to power in the wake of the Euromaidan protests. In 2019, however, he lost the election to incumbent President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to their own statements, the Ukrainian authorities are currently investigating dozens of crimes in which the 56-year-old is said to be involved. It’s about coal deals with pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country. In December the authorities announced that they suspected the leader of the opposition European Solidarity party of high treason. Poroshenko returned to Ukraine in mid-January and appeared in court.