Dog incident: Putin to Merkel: “Excuse me, I didn't mean to cause you pain

Vladimir Putin, visiting Kazakhstan, was questioned by a journalist regarding this anecdote which Angela Merkel experienced as a “demonstration of power”, according to her memoir published this week.

“As I told Merkel, I didn’t know she was afraid of dogs,” he assured. “If I had known, I never would have done it. I wanted, on the contrary, to create a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere,” insisted the Russian president, causing smiles on the faces of some journalists present.

“I address her again: Angela, excuse me, I did not want to cause you pain,” Vladimir Putin said.

In 2007, during talks in Sochi, in the south of Russia, with the then German chancellor, Vladimir Putin suddenly let his black labrador inside.

The animal, named Konni, approached Angela Merkel to sniff her. The manager's phobia of dogs, bitten in her youth, is public knowledge.

A photo of the meeting, which has become famous, shows the large black dog in the middle of the room. Angela Merkel, looking worried, has her eyes trained on the animal, while Vladimir Putin, smirking, observes the scene.

The ex-leader does not have the same memory of this meeting. In her memoirs, Angela Merkel assures that the Russian president “enjoyed the situation” and perhaps wanted to “show his power” or put her “under pressure”.

“Keep calm, focus on the photographers, it won’t last long,” she said, repeating herself. She also assures that Vladimir Putin knew very well that she was afraid of dogs.

The Russian president, on the contrary, loves these animals very much. Knowing this, Angela Merkel's team had expressly asked the Kremlin that Vladimir Putin not bring his dog during their meetings, according to the former leader.

She claims that, during their very first meeting in Moscow, in 2006, he respected this wish. Instead, he gave her a gift: a black and white stuffed dog. “He told me he didn’t bite,” says Angela Merkel.

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