Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to former German chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, saying he did not mean to scare her when he brought his pet Labrador to a meeting with her in 2007.
Merkel, in her memoirs Freedom, recounts the meeting at Putin's Sochi residence, where the dog entered during a photo session. She described Putin's apparent amusement but chose not to address it, adhering to her principle of "never explain, never complain."
#Putin #Merkel #Dogs
Merkel, in her memoirs Freedom, recounts the meeting at Putin's Sochi residence, where the dog entered during a photo session. She described Putin's apparent amusement but chose not to address it, adhering to her principle of "never explain, never complain."
#Putin #Merkel #Dogs
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00:00Angel, please, forgive me. I didn't want to cause you any mental pain.
00:06On the contrary, I wanted to create a pleasant atmosphere for our conversation.
00:12I apologize. If you ever come again, I understand that this is unlikely today,
00:19but if you ever come again, I will not do this at all.
00:24Mrs. Merkel came to visit us, and my dog, Konya, came out.
00:33Frankly speaking, I already told her about it, that I didn't know that she was afraid of dogs.
00:40If I knew, I would never have done it.
00:42On the contrary, I wanted to create such a pleasant atmosphere.
00:49As far as I know, I have lived in Europe and Germany for almost 5 years.
00:56I treat pets very positively. On the contrary, I thought that she would be pleased.
01:02I later found out that she was afraid of dogs.
01:05It happens, as far as I remember, she told me that she bit a dog as a child.
01:11Such psychological trauma happens.
01:14When I found out about it, I apologized to her.
01:17I said, I'm sorry, I didn't know about it.
01:20She wrote about it in her book.
01:27To be honest, it was strange and unexpected for me.