It is yet early to speak about gradual lifting of sanctions on Russia, head of the German Foreign Office Frank Walter-Steinmeier told Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper.

“The sanctions are not ends in themselves. The aim of our joint efforts is not to retain the sanctions, but solve the Ukrainian conflict. Therefore, we have consciously linked them with the progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements. If stable progress is recorded there, we will be able to also think of what concerns the sanctions. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet reached that, but we allocate lots of time to this,” the Minister said, RIA Novosti reports.  

In his words, Berlin is currently focusing on what is extremely necessary, namely the improvement of situation related to the security in Donbass and observance of ceasefire regime.

“Equally important is the work on the law on local elections in eastern Ukraine, which is currently underway,” Steinmeier noted.