INTERNATIONAL: Acting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has stated in a conference in Berlin on Tuesday that Germany wants a better relation with Russia. They can only get better. But in order to achieve that both countries need progress on the solution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, based on the Minsk agreement.

Authoritarian countries like Russia and China have put ruled based order, international law and human rights under more and more pressure. Hybrid threats and disinformation bother our open societies more than ever before. That's why Germany boldly says that the Chinese system stands for autocratic values which democratic countries do not want to live by.

The presence of Russian troop movements near the border with Ukraine are "extremely worrying,” Maas said. His comments came eight days after France and Germany have warned Russia against harming Ukraine's territorial integrity amid a large and unusual concentration of Russian troops on Ukraine's borders.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Maas at the time also said in a joint statement they regretted Russia's refusal to meet under the Normandy format.