On January, 10th, head of FRG Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel put forward an initiative on a step-by-step lifting of anti-Russia sanctions if lasting truce in the south-east of Ukraine is maintained. Minister’s position is in discord with FRG Chancellor Angela Merkel’s opinion who declared in December that “EU has not found grounds for calling off sanctions against Russia”.
It’s not for the first time that Sigmar Gabriel proposes to lift sanctions against our country in case of 100% implementation of Minsk accords which are “away from reality”. As far back as 2016 speaking at the IX Russian-German Dialogue on Raw Materials in Dusseldorf he pointed out:
“My viewpoint is in taking advantage of the progress in this accord implementation (Minsk accord-ed.) and to gradually eliminate barriers between the countries. It doesn’t follow that we must wait for 100% adherence of Minsk accords to subsequently lift sanctions completely. It’s more logical to do this step-by-step, all the more so that I see readiness of the Russian Party to scale up work in this direction… I am sure that our relations may and can improve.”
Last November Sigmar Gabriel visited Saint-Petersburg to take part in the X Raw Materials Dialogue. Delegates at this conference placed emphasis on the necessity to keep confidence between Russia and FRG despite a complicated political situation. Head of FRG Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated:
“It is true that we have political discord. We do not see eye to eye on what had happened in Crimea. For us it’s a contravention of International Law. However, in spite of all challenges we work towards peaceful coexistence, we seek for mutual understanding…. I spoke a lot about the necessity of cooperation between our countries. That is why I am glad to see people here who possess courage to maintain relations between Russia and Germany, despite everything. I am positive that it is you who lay basis of our friendship in future”.
Many representatives of German business community share this viewpoint. They speak about the necessity to resume previously established level of cooperation between our countries .They say that this is a prerequisite for enhancing energy security for European consumers and for economic development of both countries.
“There are a lot of promising areas of collaboration arousing interest in both Russia and Germany”- says the co-chairman of the Raw Materials Dialogue from the Russian side, rector of the Mining university Vladimir Litvinenko. “For example, we have founded International Competence Center under the auspices of UNESCO. Our German colleagues take active part in establishing this institution, which will deals with International professional certification of engineers, unification of educational standards and so on. We also jointly work on projects in the field of synthetic gas. There is no doubt that our states are bound to cooperation”.
However, not everyone in Germany shares the same view. For instance, FRG Chancellor Angela Merkel who, by the way, in 2006 together with Vladimir Putin signed a document establishing Russian-German Dialogue on Raw Materials, stands for the prolongation of sanctions against Russia.
“There was no sufficient progress achieved to call off sanctions; there was unanimous opinion, that everything in power must be done to facilitate Minsk process”- said Merkel in December, commenting on the decision about “ absence of ground for lifting sanctions against Russia”.
FRG Chancellor thinks that the situation may change only in case of 100% fulfillment of Minsk accords. There is some discrepancy of such standpoint since this highly depends on Ukraine. But Ukrainian politicians regularly declare their reluctance to comply with agreement reached in Belarus capital, calling them “impracticable”.
Last year on December, 14th, president of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko thanked the leaders of EU member-states for their decision to extend economic sanctions against Russia on his Facebook page. This decision exactly meets his views. “ I am grateful to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of France Emmanuel Makron as “Normandy format” partners, as well as to all our friends in EU for supporting Ukraine”- wrote Poroshenko.
“Thinking about perspectives of normalizing relations with EU, it is necessary to understand that today we deal with mutually beneficial cooperation-says Aleksey Kuznetsov , head of the Center of European Research of the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations RAS. “ Not only the USA put pressure on European Union, but EU exerts pressure on Americans and he is very happy that the United States plays the main role in NATO and simultaneously carries financial load. They are interested in neutralizing our military-political and simply our political capital. For me it is not quite clear how it is possible to talk about restoring confidence in such a situation. The only thing that inspires optimism -in Europe and especially in Germany there is no clearly defined unified stance on the further relations with our country. But, regrettably, pro-Russia forces there are apparently outnumbered”.
