Germany slams Ukraine lawmaker’s stunt at embassy in Kyiv
BERLIN – Germany’s Foreign Ministry has criticized a Ukrainian lawmaker who defaced a part of the Berlin Wall in the grounds of its Kyiv embassy.
Oleksiy Honcharenko, a member of President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc, sprayed red paint on a fragment of the wall Wednesday after German ambassador Ernst Reichel suggested in an interview that local elections could be held in eastern Ukraine despite the presence of Russian troops in the region.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said Honcharenko’s actions constituted “wholly inappropriate behaviour.”
Schaefer said Germany considers a Ukraine a “close partner” and was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Kyiv 25 years ago.
He said Germany is working to host a meeting of foreign ministers from Ukraine and Russia next week.
Germany has given parts of the wall to countries all round the world, and placed others at embassies and German institutions.
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