Merkel: Russia of creates instability in Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Russia creates instability in eastern Ukraine, as well as in Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Armenia, The Guardian reports.

This week’s renewed crisis in Russian-European relations erupted after Moscow seized three Ukrainian naval ships and their crews on Sunday in waters off Russian-annexed Crimea.

The ships were trying to make their way through the Kerch strait to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol in the Sea of Azov. Ukraine said Russia used a tanker to block access to the Kerch strait, which under a treaty is shared territory. Russia said the vessels illegally entered its waters.

Speaking at a Ukrainian business forum in Berlin, Merkel insisted there was no military solution, even after describing Moscow’s actions as unacceptable. She said she would be talking directly to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, at the G20 summit in Argentina, which starts on Friday, November 30.

Merkel put the crisis in a wider context of Russian interference in eastern Europe, accusing Russia of creating instability not only in eastern Ukraine, but also in Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Armenia. “There is a belt of countries that cannot develop as they want. In the face of this, we cannot close our eyes as Germans.”