Putin Does Not Rule Out Attending D-Day Anniversary Events in France

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday it would be a "pity" if the Russian president were to "use" the commemoration of World War II victory for visiting Crimea.

Merkel was responding to a reporter's question about media reports that Vladimir Putin could attend a May 9 military parade in his first visit to the peninsula since Russia annexed the territory in March.

She said the date -- when Russia and the other ex-Soviet states mark victory over the Nazis in World War II -- was "unbelievably important."

Merkel said she had been in Moscow herself four years ago on May 9 because it had been important to her to show that the lessons of history had been understood.

"Therefore, quite simply, I can only say I find it a pity when such a day is used in such an area of conflict to hold a parade," Merkel told a joint press conference with visiting Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

Russian dailies Kommersant and Gazeta.ru reported late last month that Putin could attend a May 9 military parade marking victory in World War II in Sevastopol, which hosts the Black Sea fleet.

Merkel, who has had regular contact with Putin through the Ukraine turmoil, stressed the need for a diplomatic end to the crisis, which has pushed Russian relations with the West to lows not seen since the end of the Cold War.

"We will not resolve such a conflict... with military means. Therefore the point is to very intensively exhaust the diplomatic possibilities," she said.

After talks in Washington last week, Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama warned that Russia would face direct and painful economic sanctions if Ukrainian elections later this month are disrupted.

Merkel said Tuesday that sanctions were "no ends in themselves" but added that "we are however ready for them if needed."

She added it was important for all EU member states to send the same message to Russia and said the 28-nation bloc would be "capable of acting."

The EU and U.S. have already unfurled two rounds of sanctions on Moscow but economic sanctions against Russia, the bloc's third biggest trade partner, have for now been set aside with some EU members in the east, and some of Germany's biggest companies, worried about angering the Kremlin.