Merz and Wadephul call for greater pressure on Putin
All efforts so far to compel Russia to end its attacks on Ukraine have come to nothing. Chancellor and Foreign Minister demand even tougher sanctions.
Bonn/Copenhagen (dpa/d.de) – Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pressed for greater efforts to end the war in Ukraine while warning against illusory thinking. “We are making every effort in every way to bring about the end of this dreadful war,” he said in Bonn yesterday. “However, all efforts of recent weeks have been met with an even more aggressive approach from the regime in Moscow against the civilian population of Ukraine.”
This would not cease until it had been ensured that Russia was no longer able to continue the war for economic reasons, he said.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also doubts that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate. Pressure must therefore be increased, he said. Wadephul pointed to the new EU package of sanctions which is currently being planned as a means of achieving this. The package includes measures to further restrict Russia’s profits from trading oil and gas. He also called on partner countries to fulfil the commitments they have made to provide military and financial support for Ukraine. “It is by no means the case that all pledges have been honoured,” Wadephul said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen.