OREANDA-NEWS. European sanctions against Russia harm German companies, Europe does not need to aggravate the situation in relations with the Russian Federation. This was stated to the German magazine by the Prime Minister of the German Federal State of Saxony, Michael Krechmer and the head of the government of Brandenburg, Dietmar Voydke. Article published on Friday.

“As a German politician, I think of many enterprises from the eastern part of Germany, which were particularly shocked by the sanctions policy”, said Kretschmer. According to him, in the West of Germany, they adhere to a similar point of view.

Mr. Voydke, for his part, didn't agree with the elected head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Lyayen, who recently demanded that relations be built with Moscow “from a position of strength”. “We need a clear position, but not a tough one”, he said. “First of all, there’s no need to add fuel to the fire”. He believes that if among the population to conduct a survey on the feasibility of sanctions against the Russian Federation, then a "clear majority" would support their abolition.

Early Prime Minister of the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwezig, expressed the view that the sanctions against Russia, as well as the retaliatory restrictive measures of Moscow, led German farmers to lose one of the markets.

In March 2014, in connection with the situations in Ukraine, the EU and a number of countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, New Zealand, Iceland, began to impose sanctions on Russia. On August 6, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree “On the use of certain special economic measures to ensure the security of the Russian Federation” The next day, on the basis of the document, the Russian government imposed a ban on imports of a number of food products from the United States, the European Union, Norway, Australia and Canada.