NEW DELHI: Germany backs more European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia to make President Vladimir Putin come to the negotiating table to end the war in Ukraine, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Wednesday, ahead of a crucial EU meeting that will consider secondary sanctions which could impact India.
While acknowledging that India and Germany do not always see eye-to-eye on the Ukraine crisis, Wadephul said at a joint media briefing with external affairs minister S Jaishankar that he had spoken about India using its relations with Russia to help “peace return to Europe”.
“The only demand is that weapons fall silent,” Wadephul said after his talks with Jaishankar, held two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Putin at the SCO Summit in China.
Germany’s policy is aimed at getting Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table. “However, what we have noticed is that despite the enormous efforts that the American President has invested, Russia has not been willing to sit down at the negotiating table,” he said.
The German and European approach is to do whatever it takes to make Putin sit at the negotiating table, Wadephul said.
“As far as Europe is concerned, this includes sanctions being imposed on Russia,” he said, noting that earlier sanctions packages and the oil price cap were aimed at cutting off finances that Russia can use to wage war.
It is also not in Germany’s interest that sanctioned Russian energy products reach the EU via third parties, Wadephul said, without referring to past criticism by European leaders about refined products made from Russian crude reaching European states from India.
At the same time, the EU has sought to ensure that there are no bottlenecks in energy supplies or unreasonable price increases, Wadephul said.
His comments came ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states in Copenhagen on Saturday, which is expected to consider the bloc’s so-called “Anti-Circumvention Tool” meant to punish countries that help Russia acquire critical goods and materials forbidden under Western sanctions. The tool could trigger secondary sanctions against countries, instead of the EU’s current policy of only sanctioning foreign companies that are accused of helping Russia circumvent sanctions that are already in place.
Jaishankar said the Ukraine conflict and the situation in West Asia and the Indo-Pacific had figured in his talks with Wadephul but didn’t go into details.
India has defended its purchase of Russian oil on the grounds of energy security. Russia currently meets nearly 40% of India’s energy needs, and the purchases have continued despite US President Donald Trump recently imposing a 25% punitive tariff over the issue.
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