Germany's Merkel says didn't have political strength for pre-invasion Ukraine talks

FILE PHOTO: Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a news conference ahead of the Gulbenkian Foundation award ceremony, in Lisbon, Portugal, October 13, 2022. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes

BERLIN (Reuters) - Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had aimed to convene European talks with Vladimir Putin the year before his invasion of Ukraine but in the end did not see any possibility of influencing the Russian president at the end of her term.

Merkel told the Spiegel news magazine in an interview published on Thursday that she and French President Emmanuel Macron had planned to hold an independent talk format with Putin within the European Council in 2021, her last summer in office.