OREANDA-NEWS. "Our recipe is to be unified, speak with one voice, not to give up and force Russia to fulfill the Minsk deal," Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk underlined speaking at the German Association of Foreign Policy in an official visit to Berlin on Thursday, January 8.

He stressed that sanctions against the Russian Federation "are playing a crucial role": "There were only two options on the agenda. The first one- military response, but I am not sure that anyone would like a third world war. We tried to avoid the escalation of the conflict and its military solution. So another option, which was and remains on the agenda is to introduce financial sanctions. "

"The idea of sanctions is to return Russia to negotiations. And Russia has to pay the price because she has committed an international crime," the Prime Minister of Ukraine said.

He noted that he often hears about the need to let President Putin "save face": "It sounds good, if there is a face. But if on the face there is a mask, cynical mask - it's hard to do."

Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed that the joint actions of the EU and the US "have already done much to make Russia more" flexible"," I am convinced that sanctions also paved the way to the Minsk agreements."

He pointed out that the Minsk deal is currently the only agreement with Russia, "and it is the basis for further de-escalation of the situation in Ukraine."

The Prime Minister said that the Government of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine "did everything that was written down in the Minsk deal."

"What has Russia done instead? Nothing," Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasized, recalling that there are several conditions that Russia must fulfill pursuant to the Minsk deal. First, regaining control over the border, because "now Ukrainian government does not control the Ukrainian-Russian border", "Second, Russia should stop supplying equipment and deadly weapons to terrorists led by Russia. Third, Russia will pull out her regular army and her agents. If Russia meets these three prerequisites, if she starts implementing the Minsk deal, it will be a significant de-escalation of the situation and will pave the way for further positive solutions in order to achieve peace."

Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed that Ukraine faces immense challenges, "Over the past ten months we had a war, parliament election, presidential election, a number of financial challenges. We have survived. And we must survive in 2015. We need to stabilize the situation and do everything to achieve upcoming goals and make Ukraine a positive sample in Europe."

"It's not easy, and we can only do it together with Germany, the EU, our American friends - the entire western world.

It is the struggle for freedom and liberty. We expect that if we act together with the international community, with our Western partners, we will succeed, overcome all these impediments and we will have a European future in Ukraine," Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasized.