A group of 50 members of European Parliament from 13 EU Member states have signed an appeal addressed to the Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz.

They explain that Germany, finding itself on a crossroad, should finally realize that urgent actions are needed and stop financing Putin’s war machine.

European Pravda publish extracts from this letter, sent to Olaf Scholz on Monday 25.04.2022.

Dear Chancellor,

For almost two months already, Ukraine is under brutal, unprovoked and unjustified military attack by Putin’s Russia. The world witness horrors of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol and many other Ukrainian towns and villages occupied by the Russian military.

They deliberately target civilian population with missiles, rape, torture and killing, and seek annihilation of the State of Ukraine and Ukrainians, which constitutes a crime of genocide.

The EU has adopted unprecedented sanctions on Russia, but they failed so far to convince Putin and his generals to stop the war.

Member States have not been able to agree on full Russian energy embargo so far, and the EU is continuing to pay around 800 million EUR per day into Putin’s pockets, helping to finance his war machine. The EU was also unable to introduce full SWIFT sanctions, as major Russian banks, such as Gazprombank or Sberbank, are excluded from the sanctions since they receive payments from EU business companies for the import of energy resources from Russia.

In 2020, the EU paid Russia 64 billion EUR for energy resources... With increased oil and gas prices since the invasion, the EU is now paying 3.5 times more and will have paid for Russian energy approximately 200 billion EUR by the end of 2022.

Immediate embargo on Russian oil and petroleum products alone would have a huge impact on the Russian economy as they make up around 70% of EU’s payments for Russian energy resources. The oil embargo can be implemented immediately, as EU Member States, including Germany, have the necessary infrastructure to ensure oil supply by sea, while 30 OPEC members can easily cover the demand with only a limited effect on oil prices.

The fears of high economic costs and poverty rates resulting from Russian energy embargo are highly overstated. The effects to the German economy are likely to be substantial but manageable. In the short run, a stop of Russian energy imports would lead to a GDP growth decline in the range of 0.5% to 3%, while the Russian economy would decline by 30-40% by the end of the year.

The massive effect on the Russian economy would be an important factor to convince Putin to stop the war.

The European Parliament in its Resolution of 7 April 2022, adopted with overwhelming majority, has called for an immediate full embargo on Russian imports of oil, coal, nuclear fuel, and gas.

There are several EU Member states who oppose the embargo (including an embargo on oil import only), and Germany is among them. Because of that, these EU sanctions are not adopted.

Even having witnessed the Bucha massacre, the EU continues financing Putin’s war machine.

We find it hard to believe that the proud German nation is satisfied with such policy line of the German Government.

We understand that Germany may feel targeted by Putin’s threats to cut gas supply to your country if the EU oil embargo is introduced. However, Germany, and the EU, should not prove themselves vulnerable to Putin’s blackmail.

We ask the German Government to take a stand on the right side of history.

We strongly believe that Germany can lead the rest of the EU Member States to overcome the current political impasse and immediately implement the Russian energy embargo.

Our hesitations mean continuation of war horrors.

The EU made history in the past, and it is time it makes history again.

The Appeal is signed by 50 MEPs from 13 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,

You can also download pdf-document with list of signatories