Owing largely to its strategic location and its natural gas supplies, many countries have been loath to pressure Uzbekistan to improve its corruption record. For example, despite his nation's high levels of corruption and human-rights violations, Karimov received a warm welcome from the President of the European Commission. Germany has been described as ignoring much of the Uzbek regime's corruption and violations, defying EU sanctions imposed in 2005 after the Andijan massacre in which anywhere from 200 to 1,500 people were killed, training Uzbek officers, and making annual payments to the Uzbek government in exchange for access to a military facility in Termiz. "Der Spiegel" suggested that the German government may foresee its relations with Uzbekistan as a means of profiting from planned natural gas pipelines under consideration of construction.