By Harriet Torry
BERLIN--Germany's Economics Minister on Wednesday said he
expects the broad economic sanctions against Russia imposed by the
European Union "to show very quick effect," and said the measures
are "urgently necessary" despite potential adverse effects on
Germany's export-driven economy.
"We know that we may suffer from them economically, we know that
foreign trade with Russia isn't excessively large although it has
significance... [but] we should not allow war and civil war to
expand on this continent out of fear of economic consequences,"
Sigmar Gabriel told reporters.
"Now the pressure must finally be raised to get everyone to the
negotiating table," he added.
The West adopted much tougher sanctions against Russia targeting
banks, oil industry and military because of the country's
involvement in the crisis in Ukraine, in the hope that the action
will prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to change his
stance.
In comments to reporters in Berlin, Mr. Gabriel emphasized the
"extraordinary importance" of the sanctions' pressure on
influential Russian oligarchs.
"They [the oligarchs] need to know that they won't be left in
peace so to speak" to invest, deposit money, travel and enjoy
democratic freedoms in Europe, the economics minister said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel previously said Tuesday's move
was "unavoidable" given what she described as Russia's continued
destabilization of eastern Ukraine. "It is now up to the Russian
leadership to decide whether it wants to take the path of
de-escalation and cooperation," Ms. Merkel said. "The EU's
sanctions can be reviewed, but additional steps are also
possible."
Write to Harriet Torry at harriet.torry@wsj.com