Berlin rejects Putin comparison of Crimea to German unification

BERLIN (Reuters) - Comparing Russia's integration of Crimea to the reunification of Germany in 1990, as Russian President Vladimir Putin did this week, was "astonishing", Germany said on Wednesday. Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel who grew up in Communist East Germany, said Germans had not forgotten that the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev did not stand in the way of a peaceful reunification. "But German reunification led to the coming together of two separate states of one nation. Russia's action, on the other hand, is leading to a division of Ukraine," he said. In contrast to the situation in Ukraine, Seibert said, the process of German reunification was also accompanied by the international community. "The government sees no parallels between reunification and events in Crimea," he said, and reiterated Berlin's view that Putin's annexation of Crimea breached international law. "This comparison is astonishing." In a fiercely patriotic speech on Tuesday, Putin sought to justify his integration of Crimea into Russia and said that Russia had supported the desire for German unity. "I am confident that you have not forgotten this, and I expect that the citizens of Germany will also support the aspiration of the Russians, of historical Russia, to restore unity," Putin said in his speech. (Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly in Moscow; Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)