German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will be in Kiev today, Jan. 17, for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the country’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. She will then travel to Moscow to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Jan. 18. The talks will focus on the situation in Donbas, tensions on the Russian-Ukrainian border and bilateral relations.
Baerbock is quoted by TASS: “We are ready to hold a serious dialogue on mutual agreements and take steps that will provide more security to everyone in Europe, including Russia,” she pointed out. “However, we cannot and will not deviate from the basic principles of the Helsinki Accords,” Baerbock insisted. Those include the inviolability of borders, the right to choose alliances and the rejection of threats as a policy tool, the German top diplomat specified.
She added, “The new federal government wants thorough and stable relations with Russia. The list of conflict issues that we need to discuss is long,” she said. Speaking of important bilateral subjects, she listed science, culture, trade, renewable energy sources and climate issues.
