Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Heiko Maas have said the freedom of navigation in the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait should be based on the principles of international law.
"In this regard, the joint initiative of Germany and France on joint international monitoring of freedom of navigation in the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait was welcomed," the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported following the ministers' talks on January 18.
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The ministers considered the possibility of holding consultations at the expert level with further discussion of the parameters of the implementation of the mentioned initiative within the framework of the Normandy format.
Another important topic of the meeting was the energy theme, in particular in the context of the construction of the North Stream 2 gas pipeline. The Ukrainian side essentially defends the position regarding the need to extend the norms of the EU energy legislation to all routes of gas supply in Europe. The German side confirmed the importance of preserving the transit role of Ukraine.
The topics of meeting also covered the possibility of further influencing Berlin as a pressure on Russia to release Ukrainian prisoners of war and political prisoners.
In the context of bilateral issues, Klimkin and Maas highly assessed the state of Ukrainian-German cooperation, including the unchangeable of Berlin's support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state, as well as practical assistance in the effective implementation of systemic reforms.
