Merkel: Military Deterrence Only Language Putin Understands

German’s former Chancellor Angela Merkel has voiced support for enhancing military deterrence against Russia.

In an interview broadcast by Phoenix InfoNews Channel on Tuesday, Merkel said about Russian President Vladimir Putin that "military deterrence is the only language he understands.”

The former chancellor denied responsibility for refusing to invest in equipping the German Army to fight in Ukraine, and indirectly gave responsibility to Social Democratic Party for current chancellor Olaf Scholz; the party which was a part of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union in the previous government.

Merkel said she was glad that the whole world have unarmed aircraft and that Berlin should buy some too, noting that she was not the reason for failure in having certain other things, as there was a very intense struggle to invest in military deterrence.

The former chancellor also defended herself against the accusation that she had not reacted strongly enough to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

She said she had opposed NATO membership for Ukraine in 2008 because she had wanted to prevent escalation with Russia and because Ukraine itself was not ready. "That wasn't the Ukraine we know today," she said. "The country was not stable, it was riddled with corruption."