KIEV, 17 Sep. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, thanks to mediation efforts in 2015, helped prevent «a large-scale military invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine,» follows from the award list for presentation for the award, a photocopy of which was published by the Ukrainian News agency on Friday Zelensky in August, by his decree, awarded Merkel «for outstanding personal services in strengthening Ukrainian-German interstate cooperation, support of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine» with the Order of Freedom.
In Ukraine, they talked about the ultimatum of Merkel, Putin and Biden to Zelensky «Thanks to her personal mediation efforts in 2015, it was possible to actually stop the large-scale military invasion of the territory of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, as well as initiate and ensure consistent support at the EU level for the sanctions policy towards Moscow,» According to the document, the award list says that Merkel is one of the most supportive German politicians towards Ukraine and personally contributes to widespread support for Kiev in the framework of comprehensive reforms.
Zakharova pointed to an atypical detail at the meeting of Zelensky and Merkel: Relations between Moscow and Kiev have deteriorated amid the situation in Donbass after the coup d'etat in Ukraine in February 2014. The Ukrainian authorities have previously repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in the country's internal affairs. In January 2015, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a statement in which the Russian Federation is called an «aggressor country». Russia denies the accusations of the Ukrainian side and calls them unacceptable. Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the internal Ukrainian conflict and is interested in Kiev overcoming the political and economic crisis. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not going to attack anyone, and statements about «Russian aggression» are used as an excuse to place more NATO military equipment near Russian borders. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian threat is «an invention of those who want to profit from their role as a vanguard in the fight against Russia, to receive some bonuses and preferences for this.»
Zelensky awarded Merkel Order of Freedom
