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Germany will stop importing Russian coal and oil in the course of this year and the goal is to dispense with all energy supplies from Russia, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
“Germany is also completely phasing out Russian energy imports. We will halve oil by the summer and will be at 0 by the end of the year,” Baerbock said during a visit to Riga (Latvia) in statements reported by German media.
Germany, according to Baerbock, will also do without Russian gas, but not alone but as part of a European Union roadmap.
“And then gas will follow, in a joint European roadmap, because our joint exit, the complete exit of the European Union, is our common strength,” Baerbock said.
At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, 55% of the gas consumed in Germany came from Russia but according to the German government that percentage has been lowered to 40.
Since the beginning of the war, Germany has been looking for ways to reduce its dependence on Russia for gas, which had grown over the past two decades.
This dependence has led Germany to be one of the most reluctant countries to include the energy sector in the sanctions against Russia.
Former President Trump warned that the dependence on Russian oil would tighten Putin’s control of Europe.
To secure gas supplies, major Russian banks were left within the Swift system so that payments could be made through them.
Baerbock added that it is not only a matter of looking for other suppliers of coal, gas and oil, but above all of forcing the abandonment of fossil energy and promoting the use of renewables.
