German Lawmaker Warns Against Banishing Russia From European Community

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Germany has done a lot in the past few months to ostracize Russia from the European community over Ukraine, a trend that must be stopped to ensure security in the region, the vice chair of a German leftist faction in parliament told Sputnik Radio on Thursday.

"Peace and security in Europe can only be maintained through continued cooperation between Russia and Germany, but also between the European Union and Russia," Wolfgang Gehrcke, vice chair of the faction Die Linke in the Bundestag, said.

He recalled a remark made by former chancellor of West Germany, Willy Brandt, who once said it was impossible to build security in Europe without Russia or against Russia.

Relations between Moscow and Berlin soured after the start of an armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, with the European Union blaming Russia for the escalation of the crisis and accusing it of giving secret military support to militias there. The crisis broke out after a February 2014 coup in Kiev that put an EU-leaning government in power.

Gehrcke stressed it was a big mistake to push Ukraine into a choice between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union, which is a Russia-led alternative to the Eurozone, "as though Russia has nothing to do with Europe."

"Even rationally speaking, Russia is a major neighbor with a huge potential, which can be useful for everyone," Gehrcke said.

Street protests in Ukraine were sparked last year by the President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to reject closer economic ties with the European Union and increase trade links with Russia instead.

Last year, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia had never called Kiev's right to a partnership with the European Union into question, rather it was worried about threats to its own economy.