By inviting Vladimir Putin to Berlin on October 19 to discuss the continuing conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia’s bombardment of the Syrian city of Aleppo, German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed her pivotal role in the European Union.
During six hours of talks with the Russian president in the German Chancellery along with French President François Hollande and his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, Merkel not only hardened her position toward Russia. She also set the tone for a summit of EU leaders, who gathered in Brussels on October 20.
