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Top diplomat stresses Germany’s paramount interest in good relations with Russia

Sigmar Gabriel expressed hope that Washington, too, would join the decision to remove the anti-Russian sanctions in case of ceasefire in Donbass
 German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel EPA-EFE/CLEMENS BILAN
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel
© EPA-EFE/CLEMENS BILAN

BERLIN, September 11. /TASS/. There is not any other country that would be interested in fair relations with Russia as strongly as Germany, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday.

"This will happen at the moment ceasefire take hold in Donbass," he said.

"My appeal is this," he said. "We need to attain some sort of a policy of detente with Russia. No other country is interested in this as strongly as Germany, both economically and politically."

"A formal solution would say, "Full lifting of sanctions for full-fledged ceasefire," Gabriel said.

"In the meantime, that’s a totally unrealistic position," he said. "We adopted decisions on sanctions step by step and we should lift them step by step, too."

Gabriel expressed the hope Washington, too, would join the decision to remove the sanctions in case of ceasefire in Donbass and the dispatch of a UN mission there.

"I think that if we attain peace, then we’ll find US readiness on the issue of the first removal of sanctions," he said.