Germany must never again become as dependent on a country as it is on Russia, said Russwurm. “It’s part of being honest that we still wouldn’t be able to cope with a stop in Russian gas deliveries – business and the federal government agree on that,” he emphasized. “Companies must diversify their procurement much more and also open up new sales markets,” said the Industry President. “It’s less cost-effective than focusing on a few large suppliers and a few large countries. But it prevents one-sided dependencies.”
Russwurm acknowledged that the economy also bears responsibility for the dependency on Russia, but refused to call this policy a mistake in general. “Of course, the German economy also bears responsibility. Due to its geographical location, Germany was accessible for cheap pipeline gas from Siberia. It would have been economically wrong not to use this competitive advantage,” he said. “No one had in mind that a Russian president would completely abandon the minimum civilizational consensus of the international community. That was a historical error, I admit it,” continued Russwurm. “That’s not why all of Russia’s policy over the past 20 years has been a mistake, as many are now claiming,” he added.
FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)
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