Headlines
Germany's Merz accuses Putin of murder and trying to destabilise West
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Chancellor Merz accuses Putin of murder and destabilizing efforts, citing Russian airspace incursions and rejecting a dictated peace in Ukraine.
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday accused Russia's Vladimir Putin of murder and trying to destabilise the West by testing its limits and sabotage, speaking at a parliamentary debate where he clashed with the far-right opposition.
Merz said recent Russian incursions into Polish and Romanian airspace were part of a long-running trend of testing the West's boundaries.
"Putin has long been testing the borders, he is sabotaging. He is spying, he is murdering, he is trying to unsettle us. Russia wants to destabilise our societies," Merz said.
He said a Ukrainian surrender to Russia was unacceptable.
"A dictated peace, a peace without freedom, would encourage Putin to seek his next target," he said.
Merz has previously also criticised Putin as a war criminal, prompting the Kremlin to say that the German leader's views on the Ukrainian peace talks should be disregarded.
The Kremlin denies its forces have committed any war crimes in Ukraine and has also dismissed as nonsense claims by Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, that her husband was murdered in prison.
German support for Ukraine has drawn criticism from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose leader Alice Weidel on Wednesday accused Merz of "posing as a global politician and warlord". Jens Spahn, a Merz ally, in turn said Weidel was turning into a "fifth column" for Russia.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Miranda Murray and Andreas Rinke; writing by Matthias Williams)
Chancellor Merz accused Putin of murder and attempting to destabilize the West through various aggressive actions.
Merz highlighted recent Russian incursions into Polish and Romanian airspace as part of a trend of testing the West's boundaries.
The Kremlin dismissed Merz's claims, stating that his views on the Ukrainian peace talks should be disregarded.
Merz stated that a dictated peace without freedom would only encourage Putin to seek further targets.
Merz faced criticism from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose leader accused him of posing as a global politician.
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