“He liked it”
Incident with Labrador Koni – Putin reacts to Angela Merkel
Updated 11/28/2024 – 11:44 p.mReading time: 2 min.
17 years ago, Vladimir Putin brought a dog to meet Angela Merkel. Now the Russian President has reacted again to the incident.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has again reacted to an incident that happened 17 years ago. Back in 2007, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the Russian autocrat in the Kremlin. Putin brought his dog Koni, a black Labrador, to the meeting – even though he knew that Merkel has had a phobia of dogs since she was once bitten by a dog.
The meeting not only caused a stir in Germany, the incident also received international attention because Putin became increasingly clear about his negative attitude towards what he considered to be the “unipolar world order”, i.e. the supposed geostrategic dominance of the USA. Merkel writes in her recently published memoirs that she found the situation with Putin’s Labrador to be very “unpleasant”, but based on Putin’s facial expressions she was able to tell that the Kremlin ruler “liked it”.
Putin said on Thursday that he did not know that Merkel was afraid of dogs. “If I had known, I would never have done this,” he emphasized. He had already claimed that in 2016. In an interview with “Bild” at the time, he said that he had only intended to do Merkel a favor. “I wanted to offer her something beautiful.”
Political observers viewed this as a cynical false claim. The Russian President was very well informed about the effect dogs had on the former Chancellor.
It is reasonable to assume that Putin deliberately brought the animal with him to the meeting at his summer residence in Sochi in order to intimidate his counterpart. Merkel also assesses it similarly. In her memoirs, she writes that Putin may have wanted to demonstrate his power.
Putin now assured that he just wanted to create a “relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.” He turned to Merkel again: “Angela, sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you any grief.” Although Putin is known as an animal lover, Merkel’s team had expressly asked not to bring the dog to meetings.
Also striking: a year earlier, Putin had respected this wish and instead presented a stuffed dog as a gift. According to Merkel’s memoirs, Putin jokingly said that this dog wouldn’t bite. She, on the other hand, “put a good face on the evil game”.
In a portrait that the New Yorker magazine published in 2014, Merkel is also quoted about the incident. Accordingly, she is said to have told the journalists in her entourage that she knew exactly why Putin had brought the dog with him. “I understand why he has to do this – to prove he’s a man.” And further “He is afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this.”
Swiss
