Merkel says largely up to Russia whether EU sanctions eased

KRUEN, Germany (Reuters) - Any loosening of European Union sanctions against Russia over Ukraine lies to a large extent in Moscow's hands, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday. Merkel said an easing the sanctions was conditional on full implementation of an April ceasefire agreement agreed in the Belarus capital Minsk that largely halted fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces. "That is quite a bit up to the Russians, also the Ukrainians," she told ZDF television in an interview on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Germany, from which Russian President Vladimir Putin was excluded. Merkel said she expected the G7 would send a united signal to Russia. But her tone was more conciliatory toward Moscow than European Council President Donald Tusk, who said that the only discussion on sanctions given the latest violence in eastern Ukraine could be about strengthening them. The EU has imposed both individual asset freezes and broader economic sanctions on Russia and pro-Russian separatist leaders over its seizure and annexation of Crimea last year and the destabilization of eastern Ukraine. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Noah Barkin)