Germany to phase out Russian oil imports by end-year

BERLIN

Germany will stop its oil imports from Russia by the end of the year, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced Wednesday after talks with her Baltic counterparts.

Baerbock made clear that Germany will completely phase out Russian energy imports.

"Phasing out coal by the end of the summer. We'll halve oil by the summer and zero it out by the end of the year," she said.

It will be followed by the exit from Russian gas supplies as part of a common European timetable, the minister added.

Baerbock strongly criticized the energy policy toward Russia under then German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Holding on to the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which has long been criticized by Central and Eastern Europeans, was fatal, according to Baerbock.

"Instead of Nord Stream, there could have been, and actually should have been, a Baltic Stream based on clean energy," she said.

"These were clear mistakes" which the new German government corrected, Baerbock said.

Merkel had long described Nord Stream 2 as a private sector project. After the change of government, her successor, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, did not initially distance himself from the project either.

With the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, however, Germany has put the certification of the pipeline on hold.