MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The German Die Linke party is ready to lift anti-Russia sanctions and recognize Crimea as Russian territory if it receives majority in the 2017 federal elections, chairman of the party’s branch in the town of Quakenbruck in Lower Saxony said on Tuesday.
"If we receive the majority of votes, the first thing I could say is that we will immediately lift the sanctions. I can tell this because I know the situation within the party. Our party openly declares that sanctions must be lifted," Andreas Maurer said.
He also stressed that most of the Die Linke party members do not doubt that Crimea is part of Russia.
A delegation of 20 German politicians and businessmen is currently visiting Crimea within the framework of a people's diplomacy project and is expected to stay there until Friday.
Information Blockade of Crimea Imposed by West Starts to Crumble
The information blockade imposed by the Western countries on Russia's peninsula of Crimea is beginning to fall apart, Maurer said.
"The information blockade is starting to collapse. This is a fact, I can say it officially. A big German newspaper has recently published a full page article, in which representatives of large and small business have avowed and stated that anti-Russia sanctions make more harm to Germany than to Russia itself. I can say that there is progress [in the issue]," Andreas Maurer said at the meeting with Crimea's authorities.
Russia's historical southern region of Crimea rejoined the country after a 2014 referendum. Almost 97 percent of the region's population voted for reunification in a referendum. Sevastopol, which has a federal city status, supported the move by 95.6 percent of votes. Kiev, as well as the European Union, the United States and their allies, did not recognize the move and introduced sanctions against the region and Russia.
