Russia has "effectively severed its partnership" with Europe, German President Joachim Gauck said Monday, terming  Ukraine "a new armed conflict within" the continent.
"We want partnership and good neighbourly relations (with Russia) in the future," but on the condition that Moscow changes its policies and that there is a "return to respect for the rights of nations," Gauck said in Poland's Baltic port city of Gdansk at ceremonies marking 75 years since an attack by Nazi Germany on Poland set off World War II.