Germany supports extending sanctions imposed upon Russia because Moscow failed to fulfill its obligations to end its nearly five-year war in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, Chancellor Angela Merkel said during a Nov. 1 visit to Kyiv.
“Unfortunately, the Minsk agreements are not being abided,” Merkel said during a joint press conference with President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv. “If something happens, progress is measured in millimeters, and setbacks are taking place time after time. Therefore, Germany will stand for prolongation of sanctions.”
Under the Minsk agreements, the Kremlin is required to withdraw its military from Ukraine, end support of proxy fighters, return control of a 400-kilometer eastern border to Ukraine and allow for international monitors to assess compliance. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not met any of those conditions.
Merkel noted that, despite numerous attempts to end violence, fighting in the war zone in Ukraine’s east continues, with more than 10,500 casualties since 2014. “Unfortunately, we do not have a stable ceasefire, and soldiers die at the contact line,” she said.
She also denounced so-called general elections scheduled on Nov. 11 in the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
“These elections do not meet the provisions of the Minks agreements,” Merkel said.
At the same time, Merkel endorsed the extension of special self-government status of Russian-occupied Donbas through the end of 2019, a decision approved by the Verkhovna Rada on Oct. 4 in compliance with the Minsk agreements.
“I am grateful to the parliamentarians for that,” she said. “We have nothing but the Minsk process. Therefore it is important that Ukraine is honoring its obligations, even though it is a difficult thing. And Germany will be on Ukraine’s side.”
Merkel also assured that Kyiv and Berlin were cooperating their efforts regarding possible deployment of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Donbas.
Poroshenko during the press conference asserted that Merkel and he had voiced “an absolutely clear common stance regarding the importance of liberation of Ukrainian political prisoners illegally held in Russia and Crimea, as well as in occupied Donbas.”
He also noted that the only way to peace was honest and transparent democratic elections held in full concordance with Ukrainian legislation and standards of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as stated by the Minsk agreements.
(The non-recognized Nov. 11 elections in occupied Donbas are “sharp evidence of Kremlin’s unwillingness to a peaceful settlement in Donbas,” Poroshenko said. “Such provocative steps of Moscow completely oppose both letter and spirit of the Minsk accords.”
The two leaders confirmed that the joint German-Ukrainian group on economic cooperation would hold its 10th meeting on Nov. 28 in Berlin.
As part of her Nov. 1 visit to Kyiv, Merkel also met Ukraine’s Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy.
In the evening, she also addressed students of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
