German President: My policy towards Russia has been wrong

Frank-Walter Steinmeier has admitted for the first time his personal mistakes in German policies towards Russia.

Before the Russian aggression against Ukraine, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier sharply criticized Vladimir Putin.

Steinmeier is considered one of the architects of the German approximation policy towards Russia.

He admitted that it was a mistake to cling to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project between Russia and Germany for so long.

“My holding on to Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake,” Steinmeier said in Berlin, according to German media.

“We held on to bridges that Russia no longer believed in and that our partners warned us about.”

For years the U.S. and other allies of Germany berated Berlin over the pipeline project, arguing it would be dangerous for Ukraine and send a wrong signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin after he annexed Crimea in 2014.

But former German Chancellor Angela Merkel remained adamant until the end of her time in office late last year that Nord Stream 2 was a commercial project and had nothing to do with politics.