German ministers warn against boycotting Russian oil

An anti-war protester hold a placard calling for sanctions against former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at the rally by the International Literature festival “For your and for our Freedom! Voices on the War in Ukraine” in Berlin, on March 6, 2022. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) – Germany’s finance and foreign ministers cautioned Sunday against banning Russian energy imports as the West searches for ways to tighten the screws on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

With his country fighting for its existence two weeks since the incursion, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has urged his Western allies to levy additional sanctions against Moscow, including boycotting its lucrative oil and gas sector.

Earlier Sunday, chief US diplomat Antony Blinken said the United States and Europe were “very actively discussing” targeting Russian fossil fuels as the war intensifies.

US State Secretary Antony Blinken (2nd- R), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L), French European and Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (C), Melanie Joly (R), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (2nd-L) participates in a NATO foreign ministers meeting at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels on March 4, 2022. – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO allies arrived in Belgium for a meeting of NATO, G7 and EU counterparts on the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the growing refugee situation. After meetings in Brussels Blinken will travel to Poland, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia from March 3 to 8 to reassure them of US support. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY / Pool / AFP)

But in Germany, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the G7, foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said such a move would be pointless since it could not be sustained long term.

“It’s no use if in three weeks we find out that we only have a few days of electricity left in Germany and therefore we have to go back on these sanctions,” she told a German public broadcaster.

In a separate interview, she added that Germany was prepared “to pay a very, very high economic price” but “if tomorrow in Germany or Europe the lights go out, it’s not going to stop the tanks”.

Germany is dependent on Russian fossil fuels, importing an estimated 55 percent of its gas and 42 percent of its oil and coal from Russia.

A container is decorated with a map showing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was expected to deliver Russian gas to European households, in Lubmin’s industrial park, northeastern Germany, on March 1, 2022. – Once defended by then chancellor Angela Merkel as a purely economic project that will bring cheaper gas to Europe, the controversial 10-billion-euro Nord Stream 2 pipeline has finally been canned by Germany over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But the small German coastal village Lubmin where the pipeline comes to shore remains divided over Nord Stream 2. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner was also sceptical of an oil ban.

“We should not limit our ability to sustain ourselves,” he told the newspaper Bild.

European and British gas prices surged to record peaks last week on supply disruption fears. And oil prices have continued to skyrocket, with Brent futures leaping to almost $140 a barrel, the highest since 2008.

Instead of boycotting Russian energy, the next round of G7 sanctions against should hit oligarchs who have gotten rich under President Vladimir Putin, the finance minister suggested.

“Those who have profited from Putin and stolen the wealth of the Russian people, also through corruption, cannot enjoy their prosperity in our western democracies,” Lindner told ARD television.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner speaks to the press with French Economy and Finance Minister (unseen) about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the Economy Ministry in Paris on February 25, 2022, prior to the start of an informal Ecofin and Eurogroup meeting. – The European Union wants to cut all links between Russia and the global financial system, France’s finance minister said on February 25, 2022, after the bloc agreed new sanctions against Moscow over its attack on Ukraine. (Photo by Eric PIERMONT / AFP)

On Thursday, the United States and the United Kingdom added more Russian oligarchs to a blacklist of businessmen associated with the Kremlin already targeted by the European Union.

The same day, France said it had seized a superyacht owned by Russia’s oil czar Igor Sechin on the French Riviera.

Russia is already dealing with a wave of sanctions designed to isolate it from the international financial system.

Putin has likened the global blacklisting to a declaration of war.

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