ON DECEMBER 6, the Ukrainian opposition politician Ilya Kyva was murdered in Moscow. The Ukrainian military intelligence service claimed responsibility for the crime. On December 14, the EU opened accession negotiations with Ukraine. 

These two events are not only related in terms of time, but also in terms of substance. So although Ukraine had admitted responsibility for a political murder abroad for the first time little more than a week earlier, the EU heads of state and government considered Ukraine’s prerequisites for democracy and the rule of law to be fulfilled in order to pave the way for Kiev to join the EU. 

However, anyone who thinks that these two things are contradictory could be sorely mistaken. The German government’s answer to my question about the murder of Kyva speaks a completely different language.