Angela Merkel said that while she was Chancellor of Germany she made serious efforts to prevent the situation in Ukraine from developing to its current state and said that she does not blame herself of not trying decisively enough to thwart what was happening, Reuters reported.

In an interview broadcast on Tuesday, the interviewer rhetorically asked what would have happened if no one had taken an interest in 2014 and Putin simply continued? "I don't want to know at all," said Merkel, who led the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia in 2014 following the annexation of Crimea. According to her, the Minsk agreements have calmed the situation and given Ukraine time to become what it is today.

Merkel also said there was no excuse for Russia's "brutal disregard for international law" in Ukraine, adding that she was opposed to Kyiv's plan to join NATO because she wanted to prevent an escalation with Russia, and Ukraine was not ready.

"Ukraine was not what it is today… The country was not stable, it was eaten away by corruption," the former chancellor said.

Merkel has drawn criticism from the United States and others for supporting the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to transport Russian gas to Germany.

She defended her policy in support of trade with Russia, saying Europe and Russia are neighbors who cannot be ignored.

Merkel also said she was dealing with issues around the former Soviet Union while she was chancellor, but it was never possible to end the Cold War.

"We just failed to create a security architecture to prevent that," she said.

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