Germany’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that he saw no quick solution to the crisis over Russia’s annexation of Crimea, nor the likelihood of Ukraine joining NATO.
“We can’t promise we’ll be in a position to resolve this conflict in the short term,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters, with his French and Polish counterparts following their talks as part of the so-called Weimar Triangle political forum.
“The positions are too far apart,” Steinmeier said, referring to Moscow’s stance that the Russian-speaking Crimea peninsula is part of its territory, while Western powers have condemned its annexation by Moscow as a violation of international law.
Ahead of two days of NATO talks in Brussels which the three EU ministers were to attend, the German minister said he saw the possibility of close cooperation between non-member Ukraine and the 28-nation alliance.
Earlier Tuesday Ukraine’s parliament approved a series of joint military exercises with NATO countries that would put US troops in direct proximity with Russian forces in the annexed Crimea peninsula.
No ’short-term’ fix in Crimea crisis: German FM
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