Ukraine progress should soften sanctions on Russia

MUNICH: German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Saturday said he favoured easing some sanctions imposed on Russia if a ceasefire could be implemented in eastern Ukraine with the help of UN peacekeepers.

Gabriel said it was "not realistic" to insist on full implementation of the Minsk peace accords before offering some sanctions relief to Moscow.

Gabriel said there were still fundamental differences over Russia's proposal to bring UN peacekeeping forces into eastern Ukraine, but he viewed the idea as "one of the few realistic options" to make some progress on ending the violence that has killed some 10,000 people in the region since 2014.