Germany delays talks on new sanctions against russia

New sanctions against russia were supposed to be introduced at the beginning of the G7 summit on Thursday, June 13, but Germany failed to reach an agreement on restrictions in time.

The German government is blocking progress in negotiations on the next package of EU sanctions against russia. According to diplomats in Brussels, German concerns and requests for changes are the key reason why plans for sanctions have not yet been finalized.

Recently, it seems that Germany has become the new Hungary, one EU official said, alluding to the fact that the Budapest government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly delayed decisions on sanctions against russia in the past.

The new EU sanctions package is aimed, in particular, at combating the circumvention of existing restrictions. The German government fears that German companies may be held liable for violations, so it proposes either to cancel this measure or to limit it to certain categories of goods.

Brussels is also proposing to restrict trade in russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) by banning the use of ports such as Zeebrugge in Belgium to ship russian LNG to third countries.

In addition, Germany is in favor of easing measures aimed at restricting the use of the Financial Messaging System (FMS), russia's equivalent of SWIFT.

Source: T-online