ASTANA: Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to former German chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, saying he did not mean to scare her when he brought his pet Labrador to a meeting with her in 2007.

Merkel, who has a well-documented fear of animals, recalled the tense encounter in her memoir released on Tuesday, accusing Putin of inviting the pet as a “demonstration of power” and taking glee in her discomfort.

“I did not know that she was afraid of dogs,” the Kremlin chief said at a press conference in the Kazakh capital Astana.

“I once again appeal to her via the media and say: `Angela, please forgive me, I did not want to cause you any heartache’. On the contrary, I wanted to create a favourable atmosphere for our conversation,” he added.

“If you ever _ I realise it is unlikely _ come again, I will not do it under any circumstances,” Putin said.

Images from their 2007 meeting in the Russian city of Sochi showed Putin’s black Labrador Retriever Konni sniffing around while the German leader sat in her chair, smiling nervously. Merkel said of the 2007 encounter in her memoir: “I could tell from Putin’s facial expressions that he was enjoying the situation.”

Putin is known to be fond of dogs and has received them from visiting dignitaries on multiple occasions.

He received Konni as a gift from Sergei Shoigu, who later became his defence minister.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2024