MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has noted ironically that the parallel between Crimea’s reunification with Russia and the unification of Germany drawn by German Chancellor Angela Merkel could give an opportunity to speak about "candidate hacking" by "Russian hackers" rather than about campaign headquarters hacking.
In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung published on Sunday, Merkel recalled the history of German unity and draw a parallel between Crimea’s incorporation into Russia and the German unification. "When I hear that, for one, the annexation of Crimea should be simply accepted, I think what would have happened, if the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was treated in the same manner under the slogan that Germany remains divided, that nothing can be changed here."
Head of Germany’s Free Democratic Party Christian Lindner earlier suggested temporarily taking the Crimean issue off the table and building relations with Russia without taking the Crimean issue into account. His stance drew criticism from members of the government and representatives of all major political parties except for Alternative for Germany.
"They say, ‘Beware of your desires.’ Could someone imagine a couple of years ago that the German chancellor would solve the complex Crimean dilemma by mentioning it in the context of the German unification?" Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page on Monday.
She recalled that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at the Munich conference in 2015, "The unification of Germany took place without any referendums, and we were active supporters of that process." This remark triggered outrage, Zakharova went on to say. Now, however, mentioning Crimea and the unification of Germany is "the point of view of the German leadership," the diplomat concluded.
"Now we have an additional adamant argument that clearly points to the historical fairness of what happened, as the people of Russia and Crimea rather than of Crimea and Ukraine were divided against their own free will. This is confirmed not only by the 2014 referendum, but also the referendums and attempts to hold them made since the collapse of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, I do not rule out that tomorrow some German media outlets will report that ‘Russian hackers’ described as a threat to Germans hacked the candidate this time instead of an election campaign headquarters," Zakharova pointed out ironically.