Russian President Vladimir Putin denied on Thursday that he deliberately used his black labrador dog Koni to intimidate German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a 2007 meeting that became a notorious diplomatic incident.
Merkel wrote in her new memoir “Freedom” that, knowing that Putin sometimes took the pet to meetings with foreign guests, she asked an aide the previous year to ask Putin’s team not to bring Koni into his presence because She was afraid of dogs.
When they met in Moscow in 2006, she said, Putin respected her request but presented her with a large stuffed dog, commenting that it didn’t bite.
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At the meeting in Sochi the following year, however, the big dog strolled across the room and up to Merkel, while the visibly uncomfortable chancellor sat next to Putin in front of photographers and TV cameras.
Asked about the incident on Thursday, Putin denied he was aware of Merkel’s phobia and said he later apologized to her.
“Frankly, I already told Merkel that I didn’t know she was afraid of dogs. If I had known, I would never have done it. On the contrary, I wanted to create a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere,” he said at a press conference.
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Russian journalists smiled when Putin issued a fresh apology to Merkel and said that in the unlikely event she made another visit, he would “absolutely not do it again.”
“I turn to her again and say: Angela, please forgive me. I didn’t want to cause him any distress,” he said.
In her book, the retired chancellor described the incident as an ordeal.
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“I tried to ignore the dog, even though he was moving more or less beside me. I interpreted Putin’s facial expressions as if he was enjoying the situation,” he wrote.
“Did he just want to see how a person reacts when they are in danger? Was it a small show of power? I just thought: stay calm, focus on the photographers, this will pass.”
