Orhan Sattarov, director of the European Bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza
The conflict in Ukraine, along with the tragic crash of the GermanWings plane and the fighting in Yemen, continue to be a dominant theme in the German press. In particular, journalists pay attention to the fact that after a meeting of EU foreign ministers last week, it was decided to link the sanctions against Russian with the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. At the same time, as the N-tv publication notes, Brussels is sending the following signal to Moscow - if the most important points of Minsk-2 are not implemented in a timely manner, the most severe European sanctions will be imposed against the Russian Federation, in particular, trade restrictions. "But what is more remarkable is that the word 'Crimea' does not appear in the Minsk Agreements. Does this mean that the EU completely accepts the loss of the peninsula in the Black Sea?" journalists wonder.
An expert on post-Soviet space of the German Society for Foreign Policy, Stefan Meister, is not inclined to believe that the unique binding sanctions to the Minsk Agreements means the EU is waiving Crimea. "But this decision shows that at the moment the West can do nothing about Crimea. You should not have any illusions about Russia giving way on the Crimean issue. President Vladimir Putin will not depart from his position even by a millimeter," Meister notes
The special envoy of the German Foreign Ministry to Russia, Gernot Erler, however, considers the annexation of Crimea to be absolutely unacceptable, but he suggests, first of all, focusing on stopping the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. "Therefore, the word 'Crimea' is not found in the text of the Minsk Agreements. But this theme will again be put on the agenda, and we have repeatedly announced it to the Russian side," Erler said. Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Bundestag from the CDU, Roder Kiesewetter, calls for a new referendum in Crimea, which would be held under the supervision of international observers.
The newspaper N-tv, interviewing German experts and politicians, comes to the conclusion that their persistence on the Crimean issue is dictated more by unwillingness to create an international precedent. Therefore, the politicians will continue to condemn the annexation of Crimea, but eventually will resign themselves to the fact that the peninsula will never again belong to Ukraine.
The internal political struggle in Ukraine that unfolded between the former governor of Dnepropetrovsk, the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, and the team of president Peter Poroshenko, also remains in the focus of the German media. According to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the resignation of Kolomoisky is perhaps one of the first peaks of a power struggle that could destabilize Ukraine and it is stronger than all the political vicissitudes since the change of power in Kiev a year ago. "What looks like the end of the internal war for dominance in the energy sector, in fact, may result in a real war for control of those regions in eastern Ukraine, which have not yet been controlled by the separatists," the newspaper warns. The peaceful rhetoric of Poroshenko and Kolomoisky, according to German observers, is not proof of real reconciliation between the oligarch-president and ex-tycoon-governor. According to the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, it is only a friendly facade of a ruthless struggle.
The fact that the resignation of Igor Kolomoisky was actively welcomed by official Berlin is really striking. According to Foreign Ministry spokesman of Germany Martin Schaefer, Poroshenko "clearly hinted that in Ukraine there cannot be private groups, which do not adhere to the rules and the law." Further, Schaefer himself noted that the government of Germany, as a rule, does not comment on the resignation, appointment and dismissal of governors and other political processes. So what is the reason for such explicit support from Berlin for the resignation of Kolomoisky? It is noteworthy that this event took place just days after President Poroshenko had been in Berlin, where he held private talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Also notable is the "leakage" of confidential data of the Security Service of Ukraine on the criminal activities of the oligarch’s confidants in the German edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Considering these factors, we can assume that during his voyage to Berlin, Poroshenko enlisted the support of Germany in his struggle to strengthen his own power in the country and limit the influence of Igor Kolomoisky, who has considerable authority, strong financial resources and controls military forces.
