Kretschmann: Stopping Russian gas imports does not prevent crime
Kretschmann sees no reason to stop Russian gas imports
“No one can say how many people are buried here”
“The processing is still in its infancy,” says WELT reporter Steffen Schwarzkopf. “No one can tell us how many mass graves there are in the city.” The Red Cross would now help to recover the dead.
Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann doubts whether stopping Russian gas imports can prevent atrocities like the one in Butscha. A party friend argues differently.
EAccording to Winfried Kretschmann, Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, an immediate stop to Russian gas imports would not prevent atrocities such as the crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. “I can’t see now what committing such crimes has to do with gas deliveries,” said the head of government on Tuesday in Stuttgart.
It was “pretty absurd” to make a connection. Those who commit such violence cannot be deterred by current measures such as a gas import ban, said Kretschmann.
The Green politician was shocked by the reports and pictures from Butscha. “These are crimes against humanity that we believed would no longer exist in Europe,” said Kretschmann. “This is an expression of an imperial policy that shrinks from nothing.” These are “heinous war crimes” that were “attributed to Putin and his government” and must be punished.
Kretschmann’s party colleague Anton Hofreiter disagrees. In view of the massacre in the Kiev suburb of Butscha, he called for a freeze on German energy imports from Russia. Although this is difficult to implement, it is still possible, Hofreiter said on Monday morning “Deutschlandfunk”. In addition, the chairman of the Europe Committee of the Bundestag pushed for more German arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Germany must bring itself to impose an energy embargo on Russia, “no matter how difficult it may be,” Hofreiter demanded. He pointed out that “the Putin regime has been subsidized with hundreds of millions of euros a day” from Germany so far. Therefore, the impression is currently being created that Germany is co-financing the Russian war against Ukraine by the country continuing to buy gas and oil from Russia, Hofreiter criticized.
Speed limit against supply gaps
In order to compensate for supply gaps when imports come to an end, the Green politician called for savings in various areas. Industrial production could be throttled somewhat and a speed limit could be introduced on motorways. In addition, coal-fired power plants could remain connected to the grid longer than planned.
The European Union is divided in the debate over a drastic step such as an immediate halt to gas imports from Russia. The traffic light coalition in Berlin is not yet ready for this. Hundreds of bodies were discovered in Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, over the weekend after Russian troops withdrew.
