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Nils Schmid: SPD foreign politician wants to keep all options for sanctions against Russia open

2022-01-17T18:30:10.395Z


How should Germany react to a Russian invasion of Ukraine? SPD foreign politician Schmid warns against excluding individual sanctions now - it is also about the Baltic Sea pipeline.


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SPD foreign politician Nils Schmid (here on January 12, 2022) in the Bundestag: Do not rule out any options

Photo: Sebastian Gabsch / imago images/Future Image

First Kiev, then Moscow: Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's inaugural visits to Ukraine and Russia are marked by international tensions.

Russia has been massing troops on the border with Ukraine for weeks.

During the trip to her foreign office colleagues Dmytro Kuleba and Sergey Lavrov, not only Baerbock is asking questions: What about further sanctions against Russia in the event of an invasion?

Will the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project between Germany and Russia finally be stopped?

And is Moscow even threatened with being excluded from the Swift international payment system?

"Any renewed aggression would have a high price," Baerbock said in Kiev, referring to Russia, "economically, politically and strategically."

Diplomacy is the only viable way to defuse the current, highly dangerous situation.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a similar statement during his visit to Spain.

He called on the leadership in Moscow to take clear steps towards de-escalation.

The designated CDU chairman Friedrich Merz warned against cutting off Russia from the Swift payment system.

“Questioning Swift could be the atomic bomb for the capital markets and also for goods and services,” Merz told the dpa news agency on Sunday.

"We should leave Swift untouched."

With this, Merz encounters resistance.

The foreign policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Nils Schmid, opposes such an approach.

"The statements made by Merz, who warned against Russia being kicked out of Swift, are strange and irritating," Schmid told SPIEGEL.

“What does he want to achieve with it?

The West in particular should remain closed when it comes to the threat of sanctions and not take individual elements off the table and pack them up again.«

According to Schmid, all options - including Nord Stream 2 and Swift - should remain on the table.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin should not be able to calculate what he faces if he takes military action against Ukraine.

"The uncertainty of a high price in the event of an invasion of Ukraine must remain for Putin," said Schmid.

It is correct that Baerbock travels to Kiev and Moscow.

»As long as talks are being held, it can probably be ruled out that Russia will intervene militarily in Ukraine again.

Everyone, whether Scholz and the Chancellery or Ms. Baerbock, talks to Russia at their own level, and that's a good thing," said Schmid.

SPD internal debate about Nord Stream 2

When it comes to the question of whether the pipeline is suitable as a means of sanction, the Social Democrats have different views.

Schmid says the debate in the SPD is proceeding as expected.

"But it is important that Chancellor Olaf Scholz is clear on the matter - for him, too, all options are on the table when it comes to sanctions."

But how clear is Scholz in relation to Nord Stream 2?

In mid-December, the chancellor said that it was a "private-sector project" and that a partial aspect of the pipeline's compliance with European law still had to be clarified.

“An authority in Germany decides on this in a completely non-political manner,” Scholz said at the time about the Federal Network Agency.

This is "a different issue" than current efforts to prevent violations of Ukraine's borders.

During a previous visit to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU), also in December, Scholz had admitted to possible sanctions: It was "very clear" that Germany and the EU would react if border violations were to occur . On the other hand, he said evasively whether the commissioning of the pipeline was an option as a means of exerting pressure on Russia. He emphasized that the traffic light coalition wanted to do everything to "prevent that".

Just a few days ago, the former Minister of State in the Federal Foreign Office, Michael Roth, told SPIEGEL: “Nord Stream 2 is still being met with criticism and concerns almost everywhere in Europe. We mustn't just turn a blind eye to this.« The project must be embedded in a pan-European energy supply strategy. »All EU partners are entitled to secure, affordable and clean energy. Gas transit through Ukraine must be guaranteed by Russia beyond 2024.«

Unlike SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert - he called for an end to the dispute over the gas pipeline - Roth wants to use the pending approval of Nord Stream 2 as a means of pressure on Moscow if necessary. According to Roth, Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps threatening to turn off the energy supply. “But we can't be blackmailed. Should Russia really continue the military escalation against Ukraine, all options should be on the table.«

On the other hand, Kühnert had recently declared that the fundamental political conflict over the pipeline had to be “put behind us for once”.

One should not talk about potential international conflicts "in order to bury projects that have always been a thorn in one's side," said the SPD general secretary.

This was an allusion to the Greens' opposition to the project.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-01-17

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