NEW DELHI: As Germany begins to reduce its dependence on Russia for oil, Berlin hopes people would realise that it is important to sanction Moscow as it’s the only way to prevent it and other aggressors to stay at bay.
"It is important for everyone to realise that there is a danger in principle to allow an aggressor to violate the integrity of another nation. Many countries that have border disputes would then be at risk as it could encourage them to go the Russian way. They would think that if Putin can get away with it so can we," said German ambassador to India Walter J Lindner, adding that anyone in the neighbourhood could be a victim.
Ambassador Lindner is due to retire in a month.
Sanctions are the only way to prevent an aggressor from advancing. Lindner said that declaring war on an erring country isn’t the solution but sanctions can be a deterrent.
"Over 10,000 soldiers have lost their lives, more than 5,000 civilians are dead and there are over 8 million refugees. The problem gets compounded with food and humanitarian crisis," Linder said
Every country has its own history, alliances, and neighbourhood. "We understand India’s position and never pressurised them on that front," he added.
Meanwhile, Germany and other countries in the EU have decided to reduce the imports of oil and gas from Russia by 90 per cent by the end of the year.
"Even though culturally Germany and Russia used to be similar, the conflict has changed everything. Today every other person you see on the streets in Berlin is a refugee from Ukraine. We have stopped buying coal from Russia and by August we would end our oil imports too. Gas imports take time to reduce as there is an entire infrastructure that is built around supplying it. We would like zero import of oil from Russia," ambassador Lindner added.
Germany is focussing more on renewable energy now, but it will be a while till the dependence on fossil fuels is done away with, he said.
Interestingly, the third-largest refinery in Germany is run by Russian oil major Rosneft and most of the crude used here is imported from Russia.
On being asked about the future of this refinery, Lindner said some things aren’t straight and the German government would be in a better position to answer that.