March 8, 2019 (Bloomberg) The
U.S. leaned on German Chancellor Angela Merkel last month to conduct a naval
maneuver in Russia’s backyard aimed at provoking President Vladimir Putin,
according to three people familiar with the talks. At a Feb. 16 meeting at the
Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence urged Merkel to send
German warships through a narrow channel between the Crimean peninsula and
mainland Russia to show Putin that Western powers won’t surrender their access
to those waters, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. The German leader refused, they said, citing reservations from
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. A spokesman for the chancellor declined
to comment.
Angela
Merkel shakes hands with Mike Pence in Munich on Feb. 16.Photographer: Christof
Stache/AFP via Getty Images
The two-mile (three
kilometer) wide Kerch Strait is a critical flashpoint as Putin looks to
consolidate his control over the Crimean peninsula and eastern Ukraine in
defiance of sanctions from the European Union and the U.S. Merkel had indicated
she was willing, in coordination with the French, to send a convoy through the
waterway as a one-time maneuver but President Poroshenko said that
wasn’t enough to solve his problem -- he wants to ensure the strait is open
permanently, the people said. France also refused to take part, judging the
idea as an unnecessary provocation, according to another official who declined
to be identified.
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