Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that she has no regrets about the energy policy she pursued during her 16 years in power and when she positioned Russia as one of its most important gas suppliers, AFP, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

“From the point of view of the era, it was very rational and understandable to supply grid gas, including from Russia, which was cheaper than LNG (liquefied natural gas) from other regions of the world,” she said at a press conference in Lisbon.

“You always act at that time,” she told reporters, answering questions about her government’s rapprochement with Russia.

“Even during the Cold War, Russia was a reliable supplier of energy,” added Ms. Merkel, who visited the Portuguese capital as the head of the jury for an award devoted to adaptation to climate change.

“I absolutely do not regret the decisions I made,” she emphasized, adding that she “didn’t change my mind” about abandoning nuclear energy.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the former center-right German head of government has been accused of increasing Europe’s dependence on Russian energy sources, in particular by facilitating the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, despite warnings from her European and American partners.

Her successor, Olaf Scholz, for his part, said that Germany “relies too much and too unilaterally on the supply of energy carriers from Russia.”

However, Ms Merkel admitted that the war in Ukraine had changed the situation. “This brutal attack by Russia changed (…) And of course the new government has to deal with it, and it does,” she said, referring to the government led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz.

Germany and other European countries are trying to end their dependence on Russian oil and gas after Putin sent troops into Ukraine as part of what he calls a special military operation.

Last year, 55 percent of the gas imported by Germany came from Russia, in part as a result of Merkel’s continued trade ties with Russia and support for the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline even after Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.

A permit to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, intended to double gas imports from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, was suspended by Berlin days before the invasion.

Merkel spoke on the sidelines of the event announcing the winner of the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, where she was the head of the jury.