Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on an excerpt from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's memoirs, where she described an episode of meeting with a dog in his residence, Kommersant reports.

He said he did not want to scare the politician and planned to “create a relaxed, pleasant atmosphere.”

Merkel in her memoirs “Freedom. Memories 1954-2021” said that in 2007, during a meeting with the Russian president at his residence in Sochi, she encountered his Labrador named Connie. She thought Putin knew about her fear of dogs and was scaring her on purpose. Putin said he apologized to her when she told him about her phobia.

“Here we are talking to you, all this will be in the media, and I appeal to her once again: Angela, please forgive me, I did not want to cause you any heartache! On the contrary, I wanted to create a favorable atmosphere for our conversation. I apologize if you ever again - I understand that it is unlikely today - if you ever come again, I will never do it,” Putin promised.

Merkel, in her memoirs, told about the experience of communication with the Russian president. For example, she described how he was almost an hour late for the G8 summit in 2007. According to her, the Russian president drank his favorite German beer the night before the summit.