Germany rules out arming Ukraine to stop Putin

MUNICH

German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out providing arms to Ukraine Saturday, saying such a move would not affect Russia and might instead cause more casualties.

“I cannot envisage any situation in which better equipment for the Ukrainian army will lead to a situation where President Putin is so impressed that he will loose militarily. That is the reality of the day,” Merkel said at the Munich Security Conference in the German city of Munich.

She firmly ruled out providing arms to the Ukrainian government, expressing doubts about the suggestion pushed by the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress.

“I am firmly convinced that this conflict cannot be solved through military means. This is why we have decided to concentrate on a diplomatic solution to this crisis,” she said in response to a question during a discussion panel at the security conference.

She believed that arming Ukraine was unlikely to make an influence on Russia even if it was armed. “We have no guarantee that President Putin would do what we expect him to do. I think that military means will rather lead to more victims. I do not believe that Russian military can be defeated in this way,” she added.

German chancellor and French President Francois Hollande held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday about halting the violence in eastern Ukraine. However, the European leaders failed to broker a cease-fire deal following their long discussions on Friday night, but agreed to continue discussions on a German-French proposal.

She spoke cautiously about the ongoing talks, but emphasized that diplomacy was the only way forward.

“It is uncertain whether these talks will be crowned with success. But in my view, and also in the view of the French president, it is worth making this attempt. I think we owe it to the people affected in Ukraine by this crisis,” she said.

Merkel said Europe will continue its policy of sanctions to increase pressure on Russia to change its course on Ukraine.

- High level talks on Ukrainian crisis

Later Saturday, Merkel will have trilateral talks with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on the Ukraine crisis.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is also among the participants of the conference. Lavrov is expected to have a number of bilateral meetings, including the one with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

U.S. and European leaders accuse Russia of supporting the conflict with arms and ammunition, while Russia says the U.S. and EU have deliberately destabilized Ukraine to expand the west's military presence in eastern Europe through NATO.

More than 5,300 people have been killed and 12,200 others injured in eastern Ukraine since mid-April last year in the ongoing conflict, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.