Europe's Stability Impossible Without a Thaw With Russia - German Ex-Chancellor

Without reasonable relations with Russia there will be no peace and stability in Europe and Germany should work on improving the situation, German former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Sunday at a Social Democratic Party (SPD) meeting.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The politician added that Germany could do more to improve relations with Moscow and said that he was sure that SPD nominee for next chancellor Martin Schulz would work on that.

"Peace and stability in Europe can only exist if we have reasonable relations with our big neighbor, Russia," Schroeder said as quoted by the Focus Online magazine.

Moscow's relations with the West deteriorated rapidly following Crimea’s referendum to reunite with Russia in 2014 and the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis. The United States, the European Union and their allies accused Moscow of violating Ukraine's territorial integrity and interfering in the country’s internal affairs. Russia has consistently denied these allegations, pointing out that the policy of sanctions is counterproductive.

On Thursday, EU leaders agreed to prolong their 2014 economic sanctions, which target specific sectors of the Russian economy, over the lack of progress in the implementation of the Minsk accords on Ukrainian settlement. However, no formal decision has been adopted so far.