The German chancellor has said lifting EU sanctions on Russia is off the table until a "real ceasefire" is achieved in Ukraine. The bloc introduced the measures after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Kulbis
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that the European Union would maintain sanctions against Russia. Speaking during her tour of the Baltics, Merkel said that Moscow must progress toward fulfilling its commitment under a peace deal for east Ukraine before the EU would consider lifting the measures.
The sanctions — which were introduced in 2014 after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula — target Russia's state finances, energy and arms sectors.
What did Merkel say?
Following talks with leaders from Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, Merkel said:
"Before the Minsk agreement has been implemented or progress has been made in that regard, we will not consider lifting sanctions on Russia."
"Peace and reinstating the territorial integrity of Ukraine continue to be important topics for all of us here."
"Almost all the former Soviet republics that do not belong to the EU or NATO bear internal conflicts provoked by Russia."
What is the Minsk peace deal? German, French, Russian and Ukrainian leaders signed peace agreements in 2015. The Minsk peace accords envisage a ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the front line and free elections. It has not yet been implemented.
Ongoing conflict: Fighting in eastern Ukraine began in April 2014. The conflict has killed 10,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
Why was Merkel in Vilnius? Merkel was meeting with leaders from the Baltic states in the Lithuanian capital. Merkel said there had been consensus on a range of issues — including boosting an EU border force and dealing with migration to the bloc. The chancellor's comments about the sanctions on Russia come a day after an EU court rejected a request by eight Russian companies to cancel the measures, ruling they were reasonable and proportionate.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses German troops of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence battle group with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite in Rukla military base, LithuaniaImage: Reuters/I. Kalnins
Merkel thanks NATO soldiers: The chancellor also visited German troops at their barracks in the Lithuanian town of Rukla on Friday. "We are proud that you are here," Merkel told the Bundeswehr soldiers for their role in strengthening the North Atlantic Alliance's (NATO) eastern flank. Some 450 German soldiers lead a multinational task force in the Baltics.
Solving the EU's migration crisis: Merkel will meet with other EU leaders in Salzburg next week to further discuss Brexit and the migration crisis. Merkel has called migration a "significantly larger challenge to the future cohesion of the European Union than what we witnessed during the eurozone crisis."
Germany's NATO missions
Since West Germany's accession to NATO, Berlin has supported numerous operations involving the trans-Atlantic alliance. Since 1990, Germany's Bundeswehr has been deployed on "out of area" missions as well.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Germany's role in NATO
West Germany officially joined the trans-Atlantic alliance in 1955. However, it wasn't until after reunification in 1990 that the German government considered "out of area" missions led by NATO. From peacekeeping to deterrence, Germany's Bundeswehr has since been deployed in several countries across the globe in defense of its allies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Bosnia: Germany's first NATO mission
In 1995, Germany participated in its first "out of area" NATO mission as part of a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the deployment, German soldiers joined other NATO member forces to provide security in the wake of the Bosnian War. The peacekeeping mission included more than 60,000 troops from NATO's member states and partners.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/H. Delic
Keeping the peace in Kosovo
Since the beginning of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, some 8,500 German soldiers have been deployed in the young country. In 1999, NATO launched an air assault against Serbian forces accused of carrying out a brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists and their civilian supporters. Approximately 550 Bundeswehr troops are still stationed in Kosovo.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V.Xhemaj
Patrolling the Aegean Sea
In 2016, Germany deployed its combat support ship "Bonn" to lead a NATO mission backed by the EU in the Aegean Sea. The mission included conducting "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings" in Greek and Turkish territorial waters at the height of the migration crisis. Germany, Greece and Turkey had requested assistance from the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/M.Schreiber
Nearly two decades in Afghanistan
In 2003, Germany's parliament voted to send Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Germany became the third-largest contributor of troops and led the Regional Command North. More than 50 German troops were killed during the mission. Germany withdrew the last of its troops in June 2021 as part of the US-led exit from Afghanistan.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A.Niedringhaus
German tanks in Lithuania
Forming part of NATO's "enhanced forward presence" in the Baltic states, 450 Bundeswehr soldiers have been deployed to Lithuania since 2017. The battalion-size battlegroups there are led by Germany, Canada, the UK and US to reinforce collective defense on the alliance's eastern flank. It forms the "biggest reinforcement of Alliance collective defense in a generation," according to NATO.
