In interviews with newspapers Das Bild and The Times, US President Donald Trump suggested that the sanctions against Russia could be lifted if both countries sign a nuclear disarmament agreement. However, the proposal caused a cautious reaction in Moscow.
"Working on the implementation of the Minsk agreements, encouraging everyone who has signed the Minsk agreements to do their part honestly, we do not think about how long the sanctions will last and do not aspire to please someone to achieve their repeal," Lavrov said.
Nevertheless, even if Moscow agreed to sign a deal, Berlin wouldn't be ready to approve such an initiative, as was stated by von der Leyen earlier.
Commenting on von der Leyen's statement, Russian political analyst and President of the Social and Political Research Center "Aspect", Georgy Fedorov, argued that the German position is a part of a political bargain with the United States.
"Germany wants to raise stakes in relations with Donald Trump. This means it wants to act not only as a junior partner, but as a player who can even oppose the US president's official line. Therefore, it is a political bargaining," Fedorov told Sputnik.
At the same time, he noted that the position of Europeans with regard to the sanctions will change in the near future.
"From my point of view, we should expect major changes in the European landscape. First of all, because a very large part of the European market and the economy is connected with the Russian Federation. Moreover, the European authorities that supported the anti-Russian sanctions have lost some of their voters. So I think that in the future political game and the elections the withdrawal of anti-Russian sanctions would be a positive move that the majority of voters will be able to understand," Fedorov concluded.
On January 14, US President Barack Obama ordered to extend for one more year the punitive measures imposed against Russia in 2014. On December 29, 2016, Obama also imposed sanctions on five Russian entities and six individuals and expelled 35 diplomats over allegations Moscow interfered in the US presidential election.
Russia has repeatedly refuted the allegations of interference in Ukraine's affairs, and has pointed out that Crimea held a popular referendum in which the vast majority of residents voted to rejoin Russia. Moscow has also dismissed all allegations of interference in the US presidential election as absurd.
