There must be an answer. Such crimes are inevitably unansweredsaid Minister Christine Lambrecht in an interview with German public television channel ARD.

The bodies of 410 civilians were found in the recently liberated territories near kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Russian leaders to be held accountable for the killings and torture committed, specifically in Boutcha, where dozens of bodies were found at mass funerals.

These frightening discoveries heighten the anger of the West, which was directly challenged by the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kouleba. He demanded new immediate sanctions from the G7 against Russia. It called for a total energy embargo, the closure of ports on all Russian ships and goods, and the disconnection of all Russian banks from the international financial platform SWIFT.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Western allies would decide in the next few days what the new sanctions would be against Russia.

However, his Defense Minister did not hesitate to go further by requesting that the European Union reopen the debate on Russia’s complete embargo against gas.

energy dependence

So far Berlin has rejected calls for a total embargo on gas, oil and coal imports from Russia because the German economy, like other European countries, is too dependent on energy sources that ito.

At least 45% of natural gas imports to Europe currently come from Russia. Germany is one of the countries dependent on Russian gas, covering 40% of its needs.

Berlin has already activated an emergency plan that could result in the rationing of gas provided to businesses if reserves are too depleted.

This process was accelerated by Gazprom’s departure from the German market. The Russian gas company has built Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines directly connected to Russia in Germany. The second gas pipeline, however, was not approved due to the war in Ukraine, in particular.

Despite Ms Lambrecht’s exit, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck reaffirmed his government’s position on Sunday night on the ZDF channel. Mr. Habeck indicated that Germany was working to reduce its reliance on Russia’s energy sources but could not do without them completely in the immediate future.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also called for tougher sanctions against Russia. However, he did not mention the energy sector.

Those responsible for these war crimes must be held accountable. We will tighten sanctions against Russia and we will especially help Ukraine defend itselfhe said on Twitter.

The European Union is already working on the introduction of new sanctions against Moscow. However, Economics Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Saturday that the new measures would not affect the energy sector.

A long list of penalties

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the European Union has introduced a series of sanctions against Moscow.

Individually, it froze assets and imposed entry restrictions on 877 individuals and 62 entities. President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, representatives of the Russian State Duma as well as several oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich, are part of this long list.

On the trade side, the EU has banned the import of goods from Russia and the export of certain goods and technologies that could contribute to its defense and security capabilities, including steel and iron. Exports to the refining petroleum sector were also suspended.

On the financial side, the EU has restricted access to the EU’s primary and secondary capital markets for some Russian banks and companies and banned transactions with the Russian Central Bank. Some banks in Russia are also not included in the SWIFT system.

The EU has also closed its airspace to all Russian-owned and Russian-registered aircraft.