Merkel hopes to revive Ukraine peace deal after Russia election

BERLIN: The presidential election in Russia this month offers a new chance to make progress on the Minsk peace deal to end the crisis in Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday, ruling out lifting sanctions before tangible progress.

"It would be right to wait until we have some steps before we can discuss the question of sanctions," Merkel told a joint news conference the leaders of her coalition allies, the Bavarian CSU and the left-leaning Social Democrats.

"But those must be qualitative steps. I am convinced that after the election in Russia we will have a new start whereby we can make a true attempt and see whether we can make qualitative progress on the Minsk agreement," she added.