Germany dealing with the Kremlin - Saxony's prime minister Kretschmer: Use Russian gas again after the sanctions

"Saxony's prime minister has repeatedly provoked strong opposition with his assessment of the Ukraine war. Now he is calling for raw materials to be sourced from Russia again once the conflict is over.

Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has spoken out in favor of resuming Russian gas supplies after the sanctions. “We need long-term contracts for LNG supplies from the US, Qatar and other Arab countries. In addition, we must finally develop our own natural gas in the North Sea. And when the sanctions are over, we should use gas from Russia again," he told the "Bild am Sonntag." When asked if he assumed that the damaged Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline would be repaired, he said : "We will need pipeline gas, and that is only possible with functioning pipelines."

The chairman of the left in the Bundestag, Dietmar Bartsch, made a similar statement to Kretschmer. "Of course there will be a time after the sanctions, then talks about gas supplies from Russia can be possible again," Bartsch told the newspapers of the Funke media group, referring to the sanctions on Russia. The key, however, is the determined expansion of renewable energies.

Kubicki: "Rather unsuitable attempt"

Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) described Kretschmer's initiative as a "rather unsuitable attempt to solve our short-term energy problem". Instead, the Bundestag Vice President called for the use of domestic oil and gas deposits. "I would remind you that there are corresponding regulations for the oil and gas fields in the North and Baltic Seas in the coalition agreement," he told the Funke newspapers.

He expects that Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) "appreciates this agreement accordingly and tackles the exploitation of this potential as soon as possible". In this situation, Germany “cannot afford ideological brakes”.

Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil also reacted skeptically to Kretschmer's words. "The relationship between Germany and Russia is, I fear, shattered for years. Unfortunately, at the moment I don't see that the trust that was destroyed can be restored in the foreseeable future," the SPD politician told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" on Sunday. Even if everyone wanted peace "as soon as possible", the future of German energy supply does not lie in gas, but in renewable energies.

Günter: "Not dependent again"

Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther said his party colleague Kretschmer's proposal for Russia was "not the right way". "I think we shouldn't be having the next debate now about becoming dependent again," said Günther after statements published in advance on the ARD program "Report from Berlin" on Sunday evening. The aim must be "to be independent of Russia".

Kretschmer had had to take a lot of criticism with his statements in the past, including in his own ranks. He had repeatedly spoken out in favor of negotiations. There must be a diplomatic solution as soon as possible.

On the subject, Kretschmer said "Bild am Sonntag": "It now takes a joint diplomatic effort by the EU, the USA, China, India and Japan.""