At meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II says she got anything but a good picture of the Kremlin chief. She remembers thinking he wasn’t a pleasant person, the 82-year-old monarch said in an interview with Danish weekly Weekendavisen. “I’ve never seen such cold eyes in my life.”
Margrethe has been on the throne of the Kingdom of Denmark for over 51 years. During this time she has met dozens of heads of state and government. Putin met her during a state visit to Russia in 2011 – at that time he was Russian Prime Minister under President Dmitry Medvedev. In 2014, she met Putin again in connection with a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy in World War II.
Margrethe follows the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine daily through newspaper reports, as she reported in the detailed and generally very open interview. She was impressed by the resilience of the Ukrainians. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described her as “the right man at the right time”. She also praised Europe’s response, including the delivery of Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine. “Putin thought he could tear the whole of Europe apart, but he made us stand together,” the queen said.
