Merkel sees no end to EU sanctions against Russia

There is no reason to lift the European Union's sanctions against Russia as Moscow has not fulfilled all of its commitments under the Minsk peace plan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview published on Friday. Merkel told the RedaktionsNetzwerks Deutschland (RND) that Russia had caused a major crisis by annexing the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and with its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. The EU agreed in June to extend energy, financial and defense sanctions