"There will be no negotiations without Ukraine and against Ukraine" - Steinmeier
The EU countries and the USA are united in the fact that there can be no negotiations with Russia behind Ukraine’s back.
This conviction was expressed by the Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda after their talks in Berlin on December 12, reports Censor.NЕТ with reference to Ukrinform.
"There will be no negotiations without Ukraine and against Ukraine," Steinmeier assured, adding that this is the position of the United States and European partners.
Commenting on the recent statements of French President Emmanuel Macron on the provision of security guarantees to Russia, the German President expressed the opinion that Macron was talking "about the future, that there may be such a discussion after the end of the war, but not as a proposal to end the war".
"So there is no need to spread suspicions that France, unlike Germany or Poland, is ready for a decision that could in any way harm the interests of Ukraine," the German president said, adding that he had not discussed this personally with Macron.
Steinmeier also does not see any differences in approaches in the EU on the issue of bringing Russian war criminals to justice, although he admits that there are different approaches to the question of which structure should take care of this.
"We agree that it is necessary to collect testimonies, evidence of crimes that have been committed, because without evidence there can be no judicial procedure in the future... We... also agree that appropriate structures should be created that can guarantee further prosecution in court," Steinmeier said.
Duda, in turn, agreed that the discussion is focused on purely legal aspects of the need to create a special tribunal, while all parties support the collection of evidence.
