Talks On Lifting Anti-Russia Sanctions Can Start After Minsk Accords Implementation - Maas

Negotiations on lifting the sanctions imposed against Russia can begin only after the implementation of Minsk accords on the settlement of Ukrainian crisis, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Saturday.

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2018) Negotiations on lifting the sanctions imposed against Russia can begin only after the implementation of Minsk accords on the settlement of Ukrainian crisis, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Saturday.

The statement was made ahead of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday.

"If the Minsk agreements are implemented, we can start negotiations on the lifting the sanctions. But not earlier," Maas said an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Stabilization of the situation in Ukraine remains the main goal for Berlin in the crisis settlement process, the foreign minister underlined.

The military operation in eastern Ukraine was launched by Kiev in 2014, after residents of the region refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government. In 2015, a ceasefire agreement brokered by the leaders of the Normandy Four group (France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine) was reached in Minsk, but the situation has remained tense, with both sides accusing each other of violating the truce.