MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti) - Further sanctions against Moscow, targeting entire sectors of the Russian economy, are not a justified tool for solving a political conflict and threaten the global economic stability, German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) chief Martin Wansleben said in an interview with German Passau Neue Presse on Wednesday.
“Further sanctions targeting entire sectors of the economy are not a justified tool to solve the political conflict,” Wansleben said. “Russia is among the Germany’s top-10 trade partners. 300,000 jobs in Germany depend on the export of German goods to Russia. Moreover, Russia is Germany’s major supplier of oil and gas, accounting for 35 percent of the deliveries. The previously imposed sanctions have already negatively affected economic relations between Russia and Germany,” Wansleben told Passau Neue Presse.
He also stressed that the German economy has been suffering losses since the start of the political crisis in Ukraine, and the global economy has become far less stable.
“New investments in Russia and the prospectus projects have been postponed. In 2014 we expect losses of 4 billion euro ($5.4 billion) due to lower exports to Russia, and over 1.5 billion euro ($2 billion) to Ukraine,” Wansleben said.
On July 24, the European Union will present new sanctions against Moscow targeting Russia’s financial and defense sectors.
“We’ve asked the Commission and External Action Service to prepare proposals for action including an access to capital markets, defense, dual-use goods and sensitive technologies, including in the energy sector. These proposals will be presented on Thursday,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Tuesday.
Last week, the US Treasury introduced the so-called Sectoral Sanctions Identification List that affects companies and institutions in defense, energy and banking sectors of the Russian economy. The move followed the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine.
Earlier this year, the United States and the European Union imposed targeted sanctions against a number of Russian officials and companies as a response to Crimea’s reunification with Russia.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has repeatedly called the language of sanctions counterproductive and said these measures would have a boomerang effect on European economies.
