Russian President Vladimir Putin says he didn't mean to scare German Chancellor Angela Merkel by bringing his dog Konni to a meeting between the two leaders in Sochi in 2007.
Merkel, whose aversion to dogs has been widely documented -- she was bitten by one when she was young -- was said to show "apparent discomfort" when the black labrador was brought into the room. "The dog does not bother you, does she? She's a friendly dog and I'm sure she will behave herself," Putin said at the time.
He likely knew what he was doing; the meeting came a year after Putin gave Merkel a small dog toy with a short leash -- a symbol that left German diplomats scratching their heads.
"I understand why he has to do this -- to prove he's a man," said Merkel after the 2007 encounter. "He's afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this."
On Monday, Putin told German newsmagazine Bild in an interview published this week that it wasn't a power move meant to intimidate, but a simple mistake.
"I knew nothing about it," he said in the interview. "On the contrary, I wanted to do something pleasant when I introduced her to my dog."
"Afterwards, however, I explained everything and apologized," he said, later adding that "the level of trust between us is very high."