Jean-Claude Juncker described his old friendship with Vladimir Putin as the “shame of my life” in a LBC new interview with Andrew Marr on Thursday.
Speaking from Brussels, Marr reminded the former president of the European Commission how he had once described the Russian president as his “friend” and that Russia would be part of the security structure of Europe.
Since those comments, Russia has invaded Ukraine, causing disruption including the energy crisis across the whole continent.
Juncker replied: “That’s the shame of my life, because I trusted him.
“I had so many, many meetings with Vladimir Putin, mainly because he’s fluent in German...
“And I had the impression, I’ve known him since 2001, that he was moving slowly, but fiercely towards the western side of the reality of our times.”
Juncker added: “Then after debates I had with him and after discussions, I had with him and after so many meetings I had with him, I was studying at a certain juncture, I think back in 2008/2009 that he was becoming more and more unfriendly towards the western behaviour towards Russia.”
Putin was the Russian president from 2000 to 2008, and then became prime minister for four years before returning to the presidential office in 2012, where he has remained until today.
Just back in 2018, Juncker – then still serving as the president of the European commission – called for an end to “Russia-bashing” following the expulsion of Moscow’s diplomats from across the continent, as part of a reaction against the use of a nerve agent in the UK.
Putin began to turn against Europe “with some good reasons, but with mainly bad reasons,” Juncker claimed. “I never thought that he would invade Ukraine.
“And he never gave me the impression that this was part of his intentions, if not ambition, so I was disappointed, sad.”
Juncker then agreed with Marr that “something changed inside” Putin – although he wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly when that change occurred.
“But I don’t know what because the last time I met him was in back in 2018 at the G20 meeting in Argentina.
“And even there, he was not giving the impression that he was trying to restructure the after war border order in Europe.”
In February, Putin made his current opposition to the West very clear by suggesting that the West’s commitment to peace is a “fraud” and a “cruel lie”.
The Russian president continued: “We were doing everything possible to solve this problem peacefully, negotiating a peaceful way out of this difficult conflict, but behind our backs a very different scenario was being prepared.
“They [the West] were just playing for time, closing their eyes to political assassinations, mistreatment of believers.”