MOSCOW, August 3 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian crisis cannot be settled without Russia’s assistance and foreign policy should not be controlled by emotions, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an interview to Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung newspaper.
“The political settlement of the Ukrainian conflict will be very difficult to achieve without Moscow’s assistance. Anger and indignation cannot and should not play a key role in international politics,” the paper quoted Steinmeier as saying.
Germany’s top diplomat, however, added that trust in Russia is seriously undermined.
Steamier also told the paper that the burden of anti-Russian sanctions will be distributed between EU countries equally. Commenting on France’s Mistral contract with Russia, the diplomat said that the history of some EU countries determines their relations with Russia.
The head of the German Foreign Ministry noted that he expects Russia’s response to Western sanctions.
“It should be no surprise that sanctions may have a price,” Steamier said, adding that sanctions will have negative consequences for Russia in case it continues to conflict with the west.
The first round of sanctions against Russia was implemented by the United States and the European Union back in March as a response to Crimea’s reunification with Russia following a referendum.
In July, the European Union and the United States announced new economic sanctions against Russia amid the Ukrainian crisis.
The 28 member-bloc imposed a third round of penalties that limited Russian state-owned financial institutions' access to EU capital markets, imposed an embargo on trade in arms, established an export ban for dual-use goods for military end users, and curtailed Russian access to sensitive technologies, particularly in the oil sector.
The EU also extended the list of entities and individuals targeted by sanctions over their alleged roles in the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis.
Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, and called the language of sanctions counterproductive, warning that such measures would have a boomerang effect on Western economies.
