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Angela Merkel sidesteps military aid to

Ukraine | Germany| News and in-depth
reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW
Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com)
4-5 minutes

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned Russia for

seizing three Ukrainian ships in the Sea of Azov. But she failed to
offer any military support to Ukraine or further economic sanctions
against Russia.

Angela Merkel has reiterated Germany's support for Ukraine in the

ongoing stand-offbetween Russia and Ukraine over three ships
seized on Sunday, though she did not threaten any further action
against Russia, either in terms of military aid or sanctions.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko took to Germany's Bild

newspaper to ask Merkel to send navy ships to the Sea of Azov "to
provide security," and accused Russia of wanting "nothing less than
to occupy the sea."

Speaking at the third German-Ukrainian Economic Forum on

Thursday, the German chancellor did not offer any direct answer to
Poroshenko's request. Instead, the chancellor re-affirmed
Germany's commitment to Ukraine, and put the blame for the
current crisis squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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She pointed out that Russia and Ukraine agreed a shipping treaty
in 2003 which grants both countries full use of the Kerch Strait
leading into the Sea of Azov, although both sides also have rights of
inspection in the waters. A bridge that Russia built to the annexed
Crimean peninsula has impeded the free movement of ships,
Merkel said.

"Since this bridge was opened in May this year, shipping conditions
have worsened," the chancellor complained. "Of course I want the
facts of what happened to be put on the table, that the soldiers are
set free, and that their confessions aren't forced out of them, as we
saw on TV now."

Shipping in the Kerch Strait has been hindered since the

completion of the bridge between Russia and Crimea, Merkel said

Speaking before Merkel at the forum, Ukrainian Prime Minister

Volodymyr Groysman condemned "Russian aggression." "This is
now the fifth year that Russia has disregarded international law," he
said.

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Read more: Germany offers to mediate between Russia and
Ukraine

Economic help, but no military support

Towards the end of the speech, Merkel did suggest only one way
that Germany might apply extra pressure on Russia: by suggesting
that European countries reduce the amount of gas they buy from
Russia via its various pipelines: Nordstream and Turkstream.

Nevertheless, Merkel expressed sympathy for Ukraine's dire

situation: inevitable economic difficulties in the wake of the 2014
revolution, coupled with the annexation of Crimea by Russia and
the subsequent military conflict with Russian-backed separatists in
the country's eastern regions.

She also explained why Germany was maintaining its economic

sanctions against Russia, even though plenty of German
businesses wouldn't mind seeing them lifted. "Ladies and
gentlemen, this is about principles," she told the forum. "We don't
have these sanctions for their own sake, we have these sanctions
to make clear that countries have the right to their own
development, even if they're close to Russia – this is a principle of
international law."

Read more: Donetsk - is peace in eastern Ukraine doomed?

She added, "because it's often forgotten," that Ukraine had decided
by referendum to become independent after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, and Crimea had decided then to belong to Ukraine.
She also pointed out that Ukraine had given up its Soviet-era
nuclear weapons in exchange for territorial assurances from the
international community, including Russia. "That's why we have a
duty to stand up for what we promised," she said.

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The Minsk Protocol of September 2014, agree on by Russia,
Ukraine, and separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk, secured a
ceasefire, but it is regularly broken by both sides, and the conflict is
still claiming the lives of an average of one soldier a day. "The
Minsk agreement prevented constant further escalations in the last
few years, but it did not get us any closer to a political solution, and
it did not get Ukraine access to its actual borders," Merkel said.

For its part, Russia says Ukraine has not fulfilled its side of the
Minsk bargain: ensuring local elections on autonomy in the
separatist regions.