Merkel warns Russia of 'massive' long-term damage over Ukraine

MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse

German Chancellor Angela Merkel lays out her governments policy on Ukraine by addressing delegates at the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament in Berlin on March 13, 2014. AFP photo

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Russia Thursday of "massive" long-term damage to its economic and political interests if it continued to violate international law with its seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
     
In a speech to parliament looking ahead to a European Union summit next week in which the 28-member bloc could impose new sanctions against Moscow, Merkel said Russia was using the "failed" expansionist tactics of the 19th and 20th centuries.
      
"If Russia continues its course of the last weeks, it would not only be a catastrophe for Ukraine," she told the chamber, where the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany was also a guest.
      
"It would not only change the relationship of the European Union as a whole to Russia. No, it would also, and I am firmly convinced of this, massively damage Russia both economically and politically."        Merkel said that in a year in which Europe is marking both the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I and 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Russia must learn from the mistakes of the past.
      
"You cannot turn back the clock," she said.
      
"Conflicts of interest in the middle of Europe in the 21st century can only be resolved successfully if we do not employ the means of the 19th and 20th centuries."        Merkel is widely seen as the EU's most influential figure in the Crimea crisis but has been accused of reluctance to bring real pressure to bear against Russia due to Germany's close trade ties with the country.
      
During a visit to Poland Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, she warned Russia of a "second stage of sanctions" that could be imposed on Monday if Moscow fails to reverse its course on Crimea.
      
Fresh sanctions could include freezing personal assets of Russians or Ukrainians seen as instigating the crisis as well as a visa ban.