The latest Russian massive attack on Ukraine must be responded to with additional sanctions on Moscow by the West, German Foreign Minister Johann Vaddefulh told German state broadcaster ADR today, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Ukraine experienced a new massive Russian attack in the early hours of today, in which 12 people were killed.
"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is not interested in peace, he wants to continue this war, and we must not allow that. For this reason, the European Union will agree on new sanctions," Vaddefulh said in his interview with ADR, broadcast live on the program "Information from Berlin" (Report from Berlin).
Michael Kretschmer, deputy chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which is ruling in Germany's coalition, supports the idea that the possible resumption of work on the "Nord Stream" gas pipeline could be used as a way to push Russia to negotiate peace in Ukraine, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
"Nord Stream" is a possible start to negotiations with Russia,” Kretschmer said in an interview with "Zeit Online" published today.
Kretschmer, who is prime minister of the eastern state of Saxony, said that 20% of Germany's gas needs should be imported from Russia.
Before the war in Ukraine, which Moscow started in February 2022, Germany was heavily dependent on Russian gas imports, with energy prices rising sharply when supplies were cut off after Russia's invasion of the neighboring country, DPA recalls.
The new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative CDU, has backed the European Commission's plan to block the relaunch of the gas pipelines as part of a new package of sanctions against Russia aimed at pressuring Moscow to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
However, Kretschmer said he did not find this strategy particularly useful, noting that that there are two options to get Russia to agree to negotiations.
“Either you try to force Russia, as has been the case so far, or you apply a positive approach“, he said, adding that he was a firm supporter of the second option.
“As long as we say “We don't want anything, we don't want gas supplies, we're just imposing sanctions”, there's no point for Russia to talk to us”, Kretschmer pointed out.