German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during the "Eine Welt - Unsere Verantwortung" (One World - Our Responsibility) forum on Nov. 24, 2014 in Berlin.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has accused Russia of interfering in the affairs of Eastern European countries seeking closer ties with the EU.
In an interview in Die Welt am Sonntag newspaper (in German), Mrs Merkel said Russia was "creating problems" for Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine.
Russia's violation of "the territorial integrity... of Ukraine must not be allowed to stand", she added.
Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine have signed trade deals with the EU.
Russia is suspicious of these association agreements - it is trying to draw republics which were once part of the Soviet Union into its own customs union.
"Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine are three countries in our eastern neighbourhood that have taken sovereign decisions to sign an association agreement with the EU," Mrs Merkel told Germany's Die Welt am Sonntag.
"Russia is creating problems for all three of these countries," she said, pointing to frozen conflicts in breakaway regions like Trans-Dniester, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as Russian actions in eastern Ukraine.
Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a "strategic partnership" agreement with Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, drawing strong criticism from Nato and the EU.
Correct response
In the interview, Mrs Merkel also accused Moscow of trying to make countries in the western Balkans economically and politically dependent on Russia in order to gain influence there.
She said she was "convinced" that the "common European response to Russia's actions is correct".
Beyond these moves, Merkel accused Moscow of trying to make countries in the western Balkans economically and politically dependent on Russia in order to gain influence there.
She defended her decision at a NATO summit in 2008 not to put Ukraine and Georgia on track for membership of the military alliance, but reaffirmed NATO's commitment to defend countries in eastern Europe, like Poland and the Baltic states, that are members.
"There is no reason to talk about a war in the Baltics. But regardless, Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which sees an attack on one member as an attack on the alliance as a whole, stands," Merkel said.
The Ukraine crisis began a year ago, when then-President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned an agreement on strengthening trade ties with EU in favour of closer co-operation with Russia.
This decision sparked pro-EU protests in the capital Kiev, eventually toppling Mr Yanukovych in February.
In the weeks that followed, Russia annexed Crimea, in Ukraine's south, and pro-Russian separatists took control of Donetsk and Luhansk, declaring independence.
More than 4,300 people have died and almost one million have been displaced since conflict began in April, the UN says.
The crisis has caused a serious rift between Russia and Ukraine's Western supporters.
Reuters: 07. December 2014
Majority of Germans want Merkel to run for fourth term - poll
German Chancellor Angela Merkel checks the time while attending a session at the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament in Berlin on Nov. 6.
A majority of Germans want Angela Merkel to run for a fourth term as Chancellor and nearly three in four believe she would like to remain in office beyond 2017, when her current term ends, a new poll shows.
Last year some leading German commentators speculated that Merkel, 60, might step down in the middle of her third term to give a successor time to consolidate his or her position before the next federal vote.
But one year into her third term, Merkel is enjoying popularity levels that other leaders can only dream of, while the leading candidate to succeed her as leader of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), Ursula von der Leyen, has made a mixed start as defence minister.
The survey was conducted days before Merkel is expected to be feted at the CDU's annual congress in Cologne.
Conducted by polling group Emnid for the Sunday edition of the Bild newspaper, the poll showed 56 percent of Germans would like Merkel to run for a fourth term, against 37 percent who would prefer she stop after three. Some 74 percent of respondents said they believe that she wants a fourth term.
Tough stance
In post-war Germany only Helmut Kohl, the father of German reunification and an early mentor of Merkel, has served four terms as Chancellor.
A separate poll for public broadcaster ARD last week showed that 67 percent of Germans approve of the job Merkel is doing.
Record low unemployment levels and Merkel's defence of German interests during the euro zone debt crisis have contributed to her popularity.
Her tough stance towards Russia during the Ukraine crisis has also become popular in recent months after earlier polls suggested that most Germans were sceptical about whether punishing Moscow with economic sanctions was wise.
The ARD poll showed that only 39 percent of Germans approve of von der Leyen, who has come under fire for making ambitious pledges of German support for crisis regions at a time when Germany's military hardware is in a state of disrepair.
Other world leaders are also faring poorly compared with Merkel.
Approval ratings for U.S. President Barack Obama have hovered around 40 percent in recent polls and a survey for French daily Le Figaro last month showed that 86 percent of French voters do not want President Francois Hollande to stand for re-election in 2017.
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