German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday voiced her doubts about Russia's contribution to settle the Ukraine crisis and said she saw no reason to lift sanctions against Moscow at present.
Addressing a meeting of German Employers Association in Berlin, Merkel said controversial elections held in the two self-proclaimed "republics" in eastern Ukraine were "illegal" and accused Russia of not doing enough to ease tensions, xinhua reported.
"Russia has not yet done what we would like," she said, adding Germany continued to seek diplomatic solutions and that Russia should put stronger pressure on rebels.
The chancellor said the European Union (EU) would maintain economic sanctions against Russia, as "there is no reason at the moment to repeal them."
Her spokesman Steffen Seibert has said that the German government did not recognise the "illegitimate elections" in eastern Ukraine, and threatened new sanctions against Moscow would be imposed "if the situation got worse".
