No Script

Please Wait...

Ramadan Kareem...

Merkel not Ready to Back Economic Sanctions against Russia

Merkel not Ready to Back Economic Sanctions against Russia
folder_openGermany access_time10 years ago
starAdd to favorites

Local Editor

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that "the West has not yet reached a stage where it will be ready to impose economic sanctions on Russia."

Merkel not Ready to Back Economic Sanctions against RussiaShe further hoped for a political solution to the stalemate over Ukraine crisis.

The chancellor said she is "not interested in escalation" of tensions with Russia, speaking after Wednesday meeting with the South Korean president in Berlin.
"On the contrary, I am working on de-escalation of the situation," she added, as cited by Itar-Tass.

Merkel believed that the West "has not reached a stage that implies the imposition of economic sanctions" against Russia, advocated by US President Barack Obama. "And I hope we will be able to avoid it," she said.

Berlin is very much dependent on economic ties with Russia with bilateral trade volume equaling to some 76 billion euros in 2013. Further around 6,000 German firms and over 300,000 jobs are dependent on Russian partners with the overall investment volume of 20 billion euros.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov commented on Russia's economic situation on Wednesday.
"At present, the investors' worries are connected with the consequences of sanctions. We see ratings agencies lower the outlook on Russia's ratings. It certainly puts us on alert. There are no basic grounds for changing the general stability of Russia's economy," Siluanov told Russia-24 TV channel.

Yet Siluanov defended Russia's economy and trustworthiness saying that foreign investors hope that the any sanctions against Moscow are temporary.

"The measures that were taken regarding certain persons and companies have their effect. The general mood around Russia has become nervous. But we have good conditions for business," he said, adding that "neither Western companies nor Russia need the sanctions."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

Comments