An unwelcome gift from Vladimir Putin
The Russian president is also mentioned in other passages of the book, notably when Merkel returns to an episode that occurred in 2006, during which Putin offered her a “big stuffed dog“, despite being aware of his notorious phobia of dogs. A year later, the head of the Kremlin even brought a labrador, alive and well this time, during a meeting with Angela Merkel. “As Putin and I sat posing for the photographers and cameramen at the start of our meeting so they could take pictures of us, I tried to ignore the dog, even though he was moving more or less just next to me“, she wrote. “I interpreted Putin’s facial expressions to mean that he was enjoying the situation. Did he just want to see how someone in distress reacted? Was this a small show of force? I just told myself: stay calm, focus on the photographers, it will pass.“
A “form of bone cancer”: Boris Johnson makes revelations about the health of Queen Elizabeth
Brexit seen as “a shame”
In addition to the United States and Russia, Merkel also addresses a major moment in European history, referring to Brexit as “a shame, an embarrassment for us, the other members of the European Union.” “Britain has simply left us behind. This changed the world’s view of the European Union, we were weakened“, she laments before reassuring herself by indicating that she is “came to the conclusion that, given the political developments in the country at the time, I had no way of preventing the UK’s exit from the EU from the outside.“
In the rest of her memoir, Angela Merkel also discusses discussions with Pope Francis as well as her relations with George W. Bush, among others.
