Russian Official Demands Germany, France Pay Ukraine Region Putin AnnexedRussia's State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Saturday that Germany and France should pay compensation to residents living in Ukraine's Donbas region, which includes the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk that Russia annexed.Germany's ex-chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday during an interview with Die Zeit, that was cited by TASS, that the Minsk Agreements signed in 2014 had provided Ukraine with time to become strong enough to fight in the ongoing war with Russia."Merkel's confession puts moral and material responsibility for the developments in Ukraine on Germany and France," Volodin said on his Telegram channel, Russian news agency TASS reported.In another interview, cited by Ukrainian news agency European Pravda reported in November, Merkel said, "I would like that there would be a more peaceful time after my departure, because I was busy with Ukraine a lot."The region has long been important for Russia as Donetsk and Luhansk were under control of the Russian Empire in the mid-18th century after coal was discovered in those areas, according to The Washington Post."