Germany’s Quiet Man Asserts Himself With Putin
A woman walks in central Moscow on Feb. 22.
Photographer: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
There’s a sense among some Germans that the West wouldn’t be at this impasse with Russia if Angela Merkel was still in charge.
She was the steady hand at Europe’s tiller who understood President Vladimir Putin. She negotiated the Minsk accords that were the basis for seeking peace in eastern Ukraine after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014.