EBN- Russian President Vladimir Putin denied on Thursday that he deliberately used his black Labrador Retriever, Koni, to intimidate German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a 2007 meeting that turned into a “notorious diplomatic” incident.
Merkel wrote in her newly released memoir, “Freedom,” that she knew Putin sometimes brought his pet dog to meetings with foreign guests, and so the previous year she asked an aide to ask Putin’s team not to bring Koni in her presence because she was afraid of dogs.
When they met in Moscow in 2006, she said, “Putin respected the request,” but gave her “a big toy dog,” saying it “doesn’t bite.”
But at the meeting in Sochi the following year, the big dog walked around the room and headed straight for Merkel as the uneasy-looking chancellor sat next to Putin in front of photographers and TV cameras.
When Putin was asked about the incident on Thursday, he denied knowing in advance about Merkel’s fear of dogs and said he later apologized to her.
“To be honest, I already told Merkel, 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 comfortable and pleasant atmosphere,” he said at a press conference.
Merkel’s Apology
Russian reporters smiled sarcastically when Putin offered a new apology to Merkel, saying he “wouldn’t do it again if she came on a visit, which is out of the question.”
“I turn to her again and say: Angela, please forgive me. I didn’t want to cause you any discomfort,” the Russian president said.
The advisor, who left power, described her ordeal in this incident in her book.
“I tried to ignore the dog, even though she was moving almost next to me,” she said in the book. “I interpreted Putin’s facial expressions as being amused.”
“Did he just want to see how someone under pressure would react? Was it just a little show of force? The thinking was: ‘Keep calm, focus on the photographers, and it’ll pass,'” she continued.
