Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany calls on German politicians to avoid ‘freezing the issue of Crimea’
During an interview with German newspaper Kieler Nachrichten, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, reminded the leadership of the Free Democratic Party of Germany that the "freezing" of the issue of the annexation of the Crimea would mean the de facto lifting of economic sanctions on Russia, and called on politicians to adhere to "strategic patience", as reported by Ukrainian Diplomat Svitlana Melnyk on Facebook on August 28th.
According to Ambassador Melnyk, Ukraine "will never agree" with the lifting of sanctions on Russia, he noted that such sanctions "begin to function fully in the medium and long term, as evidenced by the experience of solving the Iranian dossier."
The Ukrainian diplomat recalled that the decision by the International Court of Justice of the United Nations in April 2017 which demanded that Russia ensure the educational rights of Ukrainians in the Crimea and to protect the Crimean Tatars was completely ignored by the Russia-controlled authorities, and that Crimean’s rights are violated on the peninsula.
In early August, the head of the Free Democratic Party of Germany, Christian Lindner, stressed the need to improve relations with Russia and suggested recognizing the Crimea as Russian. The politician was criticized, both in Ukraine and by the government of Germany. Lindner later said that he proposed not to recognize the peninsula as part of the territory of Russia, but only to "freeze" the issue of the Crimea for the sake of advancing the settlement of other important problems.