Heiko Maas, Minister of Internal Affairs of Germany strongly denies the possibility of recognizing the annexation of Crimea by Russia. Die Welt reports.
'If we recognize Crimea as a Russian territory, then others will start violating the international law,' Maas claimed.
Accordingly, he endorsed the UN sanctions against Russia, which he had introduced before the "summer holidays".
'Moscow is trying to make the maximum use of global political vacuum opportunities, which emerged as a consequence of the White House policy,' Maas claimed.
The Minister noted that the stabilization of Ukraine and the ceasefire remain the objectives of Germany. Notwithstanding certain differences, according to him, Germany will never recognize the Crimean annexation.
However, the Head of the German MFA is not excluding the ease of the sanctions in case the progress is made in the implementation of the Minsk Agreements: 'If the implementation of the Minsk Agreements is successful, then we will be able to talk about the omission of the sanctions. But only in that case.'
Angela Merkel claimed at the meeting with Vladimir Putin that Ukraine should remain the participant of the gas transit process to Europe.
