Germany’s Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday leading industrial powers would stand united on further sanctions against Russia if needed, despite Moscow’s threat to retaliate against foreign energy companies.
Both are struggling to strike a balance between admonishing Moscow for annexing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsular and failing to control pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, and looking after their countries’ business interests and energy supplies.
The European Union, Japan and the United States have placed visa bans and asset freezes on dozens of individuals, some close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but have held back on wider trade sanctions despite an escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.
Merkel said that if separatists holding observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in eastern Ukraine do not free them, and Russia does not use its influence to secure their release, “then we should not shy away from the need for further sanctions”.
“We have always managed to agree on G7 declarations so far and I see no reason why further steps should not be unanimous,” she said after talks with Japanese premier Abe in Berlin, the first stop of his week-long tour of Europe.
Following a new round of Western sanctions aimed at business leaders and firms close to Putin this week, the Russian leader said he saw no need for counter-sanctions but might reconsider foreign firms’ participation in areas such as Russian energy.
But Merkel said Europe, the United States and G7 partners would stick to their joint response to Russia, adding: “We have thought through these measures and we have no reason to question our unity on sanctions or see it in another light.”
“Japan, Germany and the other G7 countries will work together on what possible further measures need to be taken,” said Abe, though he said it was also “important to communicate with the Russian side”. This is a view shared with Merkel, who has the most fluent contacts with Putin among Western leaders.
Both emphasised the importance of Ukraine carrying out free elections on May 25 to give people the democratic choice of who should succeed pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich, who fled Kiev in February in the midst of bloody protests.
