Ukraine conflict: Traffic light Zoff about "naive" sanctions - the own ranks see "massive wrong decision"
Created: 02/25/2022, 18:31
By: Andreas Schmid
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confer.
Both do not want to exclude Russia from Swift payment transactions for the time being.
© Michele Tantussi/Reuters/Pool/dpa
In the Ukraine conflict, Germany and the EU have announced sanctions against Russia.
The Swift eviction is not included.
This causes dissatisfaction - also with the Greens and SPD.
Berlin – The Ukraine conflict* has developed into a war.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin* decided to "put a war on Ukraine", as Chancellor Olaf Scholz* said on Thursday.
"But he will not win this war." Germany stands for peace and will defend itself with "tough sanctions."
The chancellor demanded that Putin withdraw the military.
Otherwise Germany and its allies would know how to protect themselves.
“We are determined and acting as one.
Therein lies our strength as free democracies.” Within the federal government, however, there also seems to be disagreement about the extent of the sanctions.
Criticism also comes from Scholz' SPD.
Ukraine conflict: SPD politician criticizes naivety - and demands "the toughest sanctions" from Scholz
SPD foreign politician Adis Ahmetovic criticized in a statement in
Der Spiegel
: “People are dying in Ukraine, Russian tanks are rolling through the country.
And we decide on sanctions that do not hurt Russia enough.
This naivety has to stop.” Ahmetovic, who has been in the German Bundestag since 2021, is calling for “the toughest sanctions”.
Specifically: “Russia must get out of Swift payment transactions.
Russia must get out of the Council of Europe.” The second point is now clear.
The Council of Europe has suspended Russia.
When it comes to Swift, however, Scholz has a different opinion.
He does not want to exclude Russia for the time being.
Swift* is a network for the exchange of electronic information between international banks.
Swift is subject to EU law.
Each participant connected to the system has its own Swift address, the Bank Identifier Code, or BIC for short.
Credit institutes can be clearly identified using this international sort code.
In this way, the Swift system ensures, for example, that international transfers go to the right account.
More than 11,000 participants in over 200 countries use the service, mainly banks, but also investment firms and large corporations.
A Swift exclusion would result in Russian institutions being effectively excluded from the global financial system.
The EU discussed the Swift Committee at a special summit on Thursday evening - but could not agree on it.
Also because Olaf Scholz spoke out against it.
The Chancellor justified this attitude with strategic considerations.
One should initially stick to the package of sanctions that has been prepared over the past few weeks, he said.
Financial reasons may also play a role, according to experts, Russia's Swift Committee would put a financial burden on Europe and Germany.
All information about the background of the Ukraine crisis*.
Ukraine conflict: SPD politicians on sanctions - "that can't have been everything"
SPD politician Ahmetovic criticized his demands: "Why don't we do it?
Instead, we express our dismay, hold rallies and hoist flags.
That can't be all - the European democracies must go on the offensive now.
Adis Ahmetovic has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2021.
The parents of the politician, who was born in Hanover in 1993, come from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
© M. Popov/Imago
Mustafa Güngör, SPD parliamentary group leader in the Bremen Parliament, called for
"the full range of sanctions" in
Der Spiegel - and with it the Swift exclusion.
“He only understands the language of hardness.
If not now, then when?”.
Juso boss Jessica Rosenthal also pushed for the upcoming Swift committee on Twitter.
“There are tanks in Kiev.
With all the necessary sense of proportion - what else should happen?!"
Ukraine conflict: Green politicians put pressure on - "Russia must now be excluded from Swift"
There was also criticism from the ranks of the Greens *, the second strongest government partner after the SPD.
Former faction leader Anton Hofreiter said in
Der Spiegel
that "there is a lot to be said for the fact that in this situation the exclusion from Swift and an import boycott of fossil raw materials must be the next step".
Katharina Dröge, current leader of the Greens faction, emphasized in the
Handelsblatt
that it was important that the sanctions had "massive effects on Russia".
Green MEP Erik Marquardt called for all possible sanctions to be exhausted.
"I wonder what you still want to wait for," he told the
editorial network Germany.
Party colleague Jan Philipp Albrecht, digital minister in Schleswig-Holstein, described the German sanctions policy as a massive mistake.
“Russia must now be excluded from Swift,” demanded the Green Minister on Twitter.
War in Ukraine: Tusk attacks Germany - Baerbock and Lindner defend Swift course
The CDU is also putting pressure on.
The West should not tactic, said economic wing boss Gitta Connemann.
"Russia must be excluded." Russia's Swift exclusion should "not fail because of Germany," wrote the CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen on Twitter.
EU Council President Donald Tusk clearly criticized the federal government for its no to the Swift Committee.
"Those EU governments that have blocked tough decisions have shamed themselves," Tusk wrote on Twitter on Friday.
He cited Germany, Hungary and Italy as examples.
According to Tusk, the current punitive measures are ineffective.
"Everything is real in this war: Putin's madness and cruelty, Ukrainian casualties, the bombs falling on Kiev," he commented.
This map illustrates where the Ukraine War is raging and this map shows the areas already conquered in the Ukraine War.
Secretary of State Annalena Baerbock* defended the Swift policy.
You shouldn't overreact.
Words like the Swift deal would "sound very sharp," Baerbock said.
"But in these moments you have to keep a cool head despite everything that's going through your whole body, through your heart." Now it's important to introduce sanctions "that have a targeted effect on the power system and that don't just sound big".
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) urged caution.
He warned that gas deliveries to Germany would end if Russia were excluded.
With the sanctions because of the Ukraine conflict * further steps are possible, although he also said.
However, they would have to be "considered in terms of their effects," especially in the case of gas deliveries.
Federal Foreign Minister: Annalena Baerbock (The Greens).
© photoket/Imago
Ukraine conflict: EU adopts sanctions - Putin and Lavrov directly affected
The EU announced further sanctions against Russia on Friday.
After agreeing on a package of sanctions against the Russian financial, energy and transport sectors, EU Council President Charles Michel announced further sanctions.
The new EU sanctions also affect the export of dual-use items that can be used for civilian and military purposes, as well as visas and a number of "Russian individuals".
The EU put Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on its sanctions list.
This will freeze their assets in the EU.
When it comes to Swift, however, the EU is less united - and there also seem to be differences within the federal government.
Disputes could possibly also arise in the future on the subject of arms deliveries.
The traffic light has so far rejected this, but SPD leader Lars Klignbeil said on Thursday that the situation was “reassessed now”.
All news about the Ukraine conflict in our live ticker.
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