16th June, 2017
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is concerned that the proposed new U.S. sanctions against Russia could lead to fines against European companies, a government spokesman said on Friday.
U.S. senators on Wednesday approved sanctions against Russia over alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, including some on certain Russian energy projects.
The U.S. move was not coordinated with European Union allies.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin that Merkel labelled the U.S. move “strange” and “peculiar”.
Seibert said that Merkel shares the concern expressed at the new sanctions by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern in a Thursday joint statement.
“The U.S. Senate’s decision raises exactly the same questions for her as it did for Mr Kern and Mr Gabriel.
“It is, cautiously speaking, a peculiar move by the U.S. senate,” Seibert said.
The government spokesman added it was “strange” that sanctions intended to punish Russia for meddling in the U.S. elections could also lead to penalties against European companies.
“That must not happen,” he said.
“We generally reject sanctions with extraterritorial effects, meaning an impact on third countries,” Seibert said.
NAN reports that on Thursday, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would remove its sanctions on other countries if they removed their sanctions imposed on Moscow.
“When deciding on extending the sanctions, Russia will consider the attitude of the countries that imposed their sanctions on Moscow”, Putin said during his annual question-and- answer session with Russian citizens.
He also said that a new round of proposed U.S. sanctions on Russia is evidence of an internal political struggle in the U.S.
The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday for new sanctions to punish Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, and to force President Donald Trump to get Congress’ approval before easing any existing sanctions.
Putin said Washington’s policy of imposing sanctions on Moscow on various pretexts had always been to try to contain Russia.