Harper meets with Merkel; Ukraine crisis to be key item on their agenda

BERLIN – Stephen Harper meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel today to further discuss the crisis in eastern Europe.

As the two most senior leaders in the G7, the prime minister and the chancellor have a close relationship.

Harper is expected to urge Merkel to keep up the economic pressure on Russia, which was essentially booted out of the G8 this week because of its recent annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

The prime minister had a solemn warning to Germans about Russia on Wednesday in Munich, reminding a business audience of the dangers posed by a leader with a Cold War mentality who has brazenly seized territory from a weaker neighbour.

He said he believes President Vladimir Putin still has that Cold War mindset, and said Europe must not regress to become a place where powerful nations invade their weaker neighbours.

He suggested Germans know this better than anyone.

A senior European diplomat suggested Wednesday that Harper’s comments about Putin are accurate.

The Russian president has never accepted the disintegration of the former Soviet bloc and views the uprising as “the second time Russia lost Ukraine,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

— Follow Lee-Anne Goodman on Twitter at @leeanne25