In a newspaper interview, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock gives an insight into her talks in Moscow about the Ukraine crisis. Russia also knows that Ukraine will not join NATO, she says.
Russia is massively arming itself on the border with Ukraine, stoking fears of a new war. According to their own interpretation, the Russians feel threatened by the eastward expansion of NATO. However, Ukraine’s NATO membership is out of the question. “Everyone, including Russia, knows that this is not on the agenda at the moment,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) told the newspapers of the Funke media group and the French newspaper Ouest-France. “That’s why I had a long discussion with the Russian foreign minister in Moscow about what we’re actually arguing about,” she added.
“I have declared that international law and the joint agreements apply to me, and they say: common security with free choice of alliance,” Baerbock continued. But she also made it clear “that we would be happy to go through every sentence of the various European treaties again.” Despite intensive diplomatic efforts, the deployment of Russian troops on the borders with Ukraine continues.
Annalena Baerbock: Embassy staff will remain in Kiev for the time being
Baerbock traveled to Moscow and Kiev last week to talk about the Ukraine conflict. The West is still concerned that Russia is preparing to invade the neighboring country after annexing Crimea in 2014. The Kremlin categorically denies this. At the same time, he is demanding agreements from the USA and NATO that would ban the eastward expansion of NATO and the establishment of US military bases in countries in the former Soviet sphere of influence.
Despite the tense situation, Baerbock has confirmed that embassy staff will remain in Kiev for the time being. “Of course we continuously check the security situation in different places in the world – also in Ukraine,” said the Green politician in the interview. “Like our EU partners, we have currently decided not to reduce the embassy staff in Kiev.” Right now it is important not to destabilize Ukraine.
AA pays for departure of embassy staff members
“If economic actors have the feeling that the situation in Ukraine as a whole is uncertain or unstable, they will be less willing to invest. That’s exactly what Putin would play into his hands.” That’s why her message was in Kiev: “We want to expand economic cooperation with Ukraine. For example, through energy partnerships, for example in the area of ‘green hydrogen’.” If family members of embassy employees want to leave the country voluntarily, they could do so at the expense of the Federal Foreign Office.
Source From: Stern
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