“The moral duty of the Federal Republic comes from Germany's historical responsibility to Ukraine for Nazi tyranny.
Germany has twice occupied Crimea by military means in the last century, ”notes Melnik.
According to him, "the peninsula in this situation had a particularly tragic fate, which in the current German society is not customary to remember."
As the diplomat noted, Germany, given its “colonial past in Crimea” and millions of Ukrainian victims of fascist terror, should use all political and economic instruments to “return” the peninsula to Ukraine.
"There will be no reconciliation between Kiev and Moscow and there will be no peace in Europe until the Russian occupation of Crimea ends," Melnik added.
As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier, Crimea will forever remain with Russia, and the West, led by the United States, cannot change this.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed that the Crimea issue is closed for Russia.
According to him, the referendum on the peninsula was held in strict accordance with international law.
Crimea became a Russian region after a referendum held there in March 2014, in which most residents voted in favor of reunification with Russia.