Ukrainians mock Merkel on social media for being chummy with Putin

Ukrainians are expressing their outrage with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for looking very friendly while meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is waging war against Ukraine, during the World Cup final in Rio de Janeiro on July 13.
 The two world leaders appeared to be enjoying each other’s company, chatting and laughing together during the match. At the same time, Ukrainian soldiers were fighting and dying while trying to defend the nation against Kremlin-backed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Neither of the leaders’ press offices made readouts of their conversation available to the public.
Absent the detail, Ukrainians who read the body language of the two leaders became angry and lashed out at the German chancellor on her official Facebook page with tens of thousands of comments.
“Danke, Frau Ribbentrop,” or “Thank you, Miss Ribbentrop,” many wrote to Merkel, likening her to Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Nazi foreign minister and co-author with Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of Aug. 23, 1939. The agreement divided Eastern Europe into either Nazi or Soviet spheres of influence.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians and their supporters worldwide began taunting Merkel immediately after photographs of her laughing with Putin were made public. Enterprising internet users used photoshop to manipulate the photos and add text.
One that spread quickly across the web read: “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact No. 2.” Others were edited to show the two shaking hands and kissing.
A new post on Merkel’s official Facebook page on July 15 attempted to play down the fiery comments, chalking them up as spam.
“On this site there is currently a spam attack… and all contributions are being filled with specific commentary,” the post reads. “We reserve the right to delete posts that violate the law or contain slander, libel, racism and political extremism.”
Ukrainian military analyst Dmitry Tymchuk took a swipe at Merkel, writing on Facebook that “Berlin acts as an inactive and passive participant of the bloody show.”
But Serhiy Leshchenko, deputy chief editor of local news site Ukrainska Pravda, came to Merkel’s defense. He called on Ukrainians to stop mocking the German chancellor, saying she only backs the interests of Germans.
“Merkel is a German politician, and part of her society is pro-Russian, while many Germans even have Russian origin. Merkel serves her own nation, not Russia or Ukraine," Leshchenko wrote in an op-ed on the Ukrainska Pravda website.
Kyiv Post website editor Oksana Torhan can be reached at oksanaukma@gmail.com and on Twitter at @OksanaTorhan


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