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The European Union should end its dependence on Russian oil, members of a German delegation said on Tuesday after a visit to Ukraine, according to a report.
“It can be done within a few weeks because there are other suppliers,” said Anton Hofreiter, a member of Germany’s parliament who visited Kyiv, according to Reuters.
He added that the EU’s ban on Russian coal imports, set to go into effect in August, is too slow.
Michael Roth (R), Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, speaks during a session of the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) in Berlin on April 6, 2022, with the debate focusing on civilians found dead in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
(Photo by JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)
Michael Roth, German Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, said a ban would send a strong message to Russia.
Germany is Europe’s largest economy and oil exports are Russia’s main source of income.
RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES
“Russia is attacking Ukraine +our common values,” Roth tweeted Wednesday morning after the visit to Ukraine. “A terrible state of emergency. The tragic situation is due to the fact that we are wrestling with one another. But there is only one enemy: that is Putin’s Russia. We must stand united against him. Division only helps Putin.”
Co-chair of the German Green Party’s parliamentary group Anton Hofreiter delivers a speech during a meeting of the Greens Party states’ council (Länderrat) on October 2, 2021, in Berlin, Germany.
(Photo by Omer Messinger/Getty Images)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Germany could end its dependence on Russian oil by the end of the year and the EU is drafting proposals for a ban but nothing has been decided.
Germany has reduced its percentage of imports from Russia by 10% since the invasion at the end of February: down to 25% from 35% before the war.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO
Volunteers load bodies of civilians killed in Bucha onto a truck to be taken to a morgue for investigation, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022.
(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
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U.S. President Biden announced a ban on Russian oil last month but Germany and other European countries are more reliant on Russia and polling has shown the German people are reluctant to risk higher prices and supply shortages, according to Reuters.
Only 30% of respondents to a recent German survey said the country should cease Russian imports immediately.
