Brussels, 17/11/2015 (Agence Europe) – On Monday 16 November, Germany’s foreign affairs minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said in Brussels that for several weeks the Russian Federation has been more involved in resolving the conflict in Ukraine, which can be explained by Russia’s military intervention in Syria.
“Russia has for long acted so that there is no progress (Ed: in this crisis) but the recent meetings have been more constructive – which is certainly linked to the fact priorities on the Russian side have changed”, Steinmeier told the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee. In his view, the Kremlin could thus be giving greater importance to its operations in Syria than to the conflict in Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the crisis in Ukraine is not yet fully resolved, he said, highlighting the delay in implementing the Minsk agreements, and the continued violations of the ceasefire. He insisted on the need to withdraw heavy weapons from the front line and to begin demining operations (see EUROPE 11427). He also regretted that the exchange of prisoners was too slow and that not all the people in need had access to humanitarian aid.
Steinmeier stated that the discussions had not yet begun on the issue of the EU’s economic sanctions against Russia – which are in force until 31 January 2016. “They depend on the result of the implementation of the Minsk process“, he said, adding that the next two steps were the organisation of elections in East Ukraine and the transfer of border control to the Ukrainian authorities. “We will start discussing how to plan the December decision (on sanctions) so that in the future sanctions might be conditional on progress”. “In February at the latest, we will see if the elections took place”, if “the law on the special status” of the separatist regions has been adopted, and then “there will only be the issue of protecting the eastern border left”, he said. “Let’s have this discussion between member states so that the Minsk agreements process might move forwards. This is what we need to focus on, not the sanctions”, he said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)