Merkel Explains Why He Doesn't Call Putin

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has explained why he does not call Russian President Vladimir Putin, using Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as an example.

"I certainly think about that. I just see that any attempt to talk to him now ends with more severe attacks on Ukraine," he said.

In this context, the chancellor also recounted that there had been quite a sharp dispute with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán last week in Copenhagen. "He blamed us for not wanting to negotiate. To such an accusation, I responded that last July, when Hungary was presiding over the EU Council, Orbán was in Kyiv and then in Moscow. And Putin's response in Kyiv was the bombing of a children's hospital. And that is not the path I want to take," Merz added.