Angela Merkel wasn’t in a hurry to inflict economic pain on Moscow. Cautious, pragmatic, and mindful of her country’s business ties to Russia, the German chancellor doggedly tried to defuse the Ukraine crisis through back-channel diplomacy and frequent phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Bloomberg Businessweek: Germany’s Merkel gets tough on Russia
Children play in a playground near a group of anti-riot policemen as pro-Ukrainian supporters take part in a mass rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on April 17, 2014. Today, some 2,000 people demonstrated for a united Ukraine in Donetsk, a region where pro-Russian activists seized public buildings and weapons depots. The day before, about 20 pro-Russian protesters armed with Kalashnikov rifles entered the mayor's office in Ukraine's eastern industrial city of Donetsk, and AFP correspondent reported. The men, who met no resistance from the building's security personnel, said their only demand was for the heavily Russified region to stage a referendum on turning Ukraine into a federation with broader local rights. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER KHUDOTEPLY
