EU-Russia tension

‘Germans say “nyet”’

Published on 9 December 2014 at 09:46

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“Kremlin envoys are trying to woo Berlin to reach an agreement on Ukraine, but are sent back with nothing”, writes Gazeta Wyborcza.
An anonymous member of the ruling coalition in Germany tells the Warsaw daily that —

Russians keep telling us they respect only us [Germany] out of all the EU countries, and they keep trying to offer an agreement on Ukraine.
However, their partners in Berlin insist there will not be any bilateral negotiations, as Germany will do nothing without first consulting the other member states.
Top German politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, are deeply disappointed with Russia and “stopped seeing it as a credible country”. Even Gernot Erler, German government plenipotentiary for relations with Russia, admits that he —
did not suspect Russians would be willing to destroy everything that has been achieved. We have treated Russia as partner but all in vain.

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