Putin,
Merkel discuss defense against Trump’s sanctions
RT,
18
May, 2018
Sanctions
imposed by the Trump administration that could hurt companies in
Germany and Russia were among the issues discussed by President
Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Angela Merkel during their latest
meeting.
Merkel
arrived in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi to meet Putin on
Friday, around a year after her previous visit in 2017. Both leaders
have had their mandates reconfirmed by their respective electorate
since – Putin during the March election, which he won in a
landslide, and Merkel after winning the September 2017 general
election in Germany and, arguably more impressive, securing a
coalition agreement after a daunting six months of negotiations.
The
way Putin greeted Merkel may have reminded her of the coalition
talks. After the agreement was finalized and she was finally elected
chancellor by the parliament in mid-March, Merkel received flowers
from fellow members of the coalition. Similarly, the Russian
president also handed his guest a bouquet when meeting her on the
porch of his residence in Sochi, before having a three-way chat with
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, whose cabinet reshuffle has just been
completed.
While
the two leaders had plenty of issues to discuss, from humanitarian
aid and the political transition in Syria, to the crackdown on a
Russia-linked news agency in Ukraine, the latest actions by the US
were among the top priorities. President Donald Trump’s decision to
break a nuclear deal with Iran by re-imposing economic sanctions
poses a potential threat to European companies doing business in
Iran.
Merkel
said that the Trans-Atlantic partnership was valued by Berlin and
that European nations are currently discussing ways in which the EU
can provide a safety net to companies dealing with Iran. The German
leader added she hoped Tehran would see the benefit of observing the
terms of the deal despite Washington’s move.
European
companies are similarly threatened by potential sanctions from the US
over joint projects with Russia, particularly the Nord Stream 2 gas
pipeline. Putin sarcastically remarked that the attitude to the
project demonstrated by the Trump administration is a remarkable
example of continuation of the policies adopted by his predecessor,
Barack Obama.
“[What
Washington wants Russia to do] is to support Ukraine, which doesn’t
really want to develop its relations with us, but is very pleased to
get our money for the transit of the gas. About two to three billion
dollars a year,” Putin said. “We are not against it, in fact. We
are ready to keep the transit, if it is economically feasible. This
feasibility may be reached through negotiations.”
Nord
Stream 2 will deliver Russian natural gas directly to Germany, the
biggest buyer of the fuel in Europe. With the pipeline working, the
demand for transit services from Ukraine and other Eastern European
countries would be reduced accordingly. Kiev and other nations, which
would lose out from the change, claim that the pipeline is a
political project that doesn’t make commercial sense.
The
US, which wants the EU to reduce the share of Russian gas it imports
in favor of liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced in America, is
threatening sanctions for European companies involved. “Donald is
not just the president of the US. He is also a robust businessman, so
he is furthering his business interests, I believe,” Putin
explained, adding that American LNG is currently about 20 to 30
percent more expensive than Russian pipeline gas.
Merkel
agreed that Nord Stream 2 is a commercial project, but said there
were non-economic aspects in Ukraine transit and that Berlin wants to
see that transit preserved.
Putin
and Merkel expressed their nations’ commitment to the Minsk
agreement, a roadmap towards peace for Ukraine, and said that a new
meeting of the so-called Normandy format, which includes Ukraine,
Russia, Germany and France, may soon be convened, but refrained from
providing a timeline.
The
Russian president also remarked on the reported recovery of Sergei
Skripal, the double agent poisoned in Britain by what London claimed
was a Russian military-grade chemical weapon. Putin said Skripal’s
discharge from hospital was good news and that the lethality of the
toxin that put him there was obviously exaggerated by the British
government
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