German president cautions against severance of all ties with Russia

BERLIN, February 25./TASS/. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier cautioned on Thursday against the severance of all ties with Russia despite a thorny period in relations, pointing out that both the West and Russia are responsible for peace in Europe. "At this difficult phase in our relations we must see to it that the ties are not broken entirely," the president said, stressing that many bridges between the West and East have been destroyed in the past 20 years. "This is an alarming situation, specifically in times of crisis, and I say this openly to Moscow. We live in a period of difficult relations, but there is the past before and the future after it," the president told an annual conference of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, held online. "We, both sides, are responsible for the future of peaceful Europe," Steinmeier stressed. Read more