German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has praised China’s intention to present a peace initiative to end the war in Ukraine, but ruled out any territorial concessions to Russia.
A just peace presupposes “that the one who has violated territorial integrity, namely Russia, withdraws its troops from the occupied country,” Baerbock said Saturday at the Munich Security Conference.
“World peace is based precisely on the fact that we all recognize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of every country,” she added.
Germany’s position is that without a complete withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine, there is no chance of an end to the almost year-long conflict. All demands to end the war by ceding territory to Russia were unacceptable, Baerbock said: “That would mean turning people into Russia’s prey. We will not do that.”