Boris Johnson has moved to paper over differences with Germany on support for Ukraine, by hailing Berlin’s “principled determination” to end its dependency on Russian energy before a meeting in London with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
It is the first meeting between the two men since the Social Democrat Scholz was elected to lead a three-party coalition government, and follows a week in which Germany resisted British calls for the major economies to set out a timetable to end dependency on Russian energy.
In advance of the meeting with Scholz in Downing Street, the UK prime minister said: “I welcome his principled determination to end dependence on Russian energy. How we respond to Russia’s invasion will define the international order for years to come. We cannot let Putin’s crimes go unpunished.”
Scholz has been criticised domestically and by Ukrainian politicians for not moving fast enough to wean Germany off its decades-old dependency on cheap Russian energy, and for being slow to back the transfer of the heavy weaponry Ukraine needs.
He has also been warned by German industrialists that an immediate gas embargo would lead to mass unemployment, a position largely shared by the Green party, his coalition partners.
Robert Habeck, the German economy and energy minister, has announced plans to stop importing oil and coal from Russia this year, and gas by mid-2024.
Johnson is also expected to discuss the delivery of “new and heavier” weapons to Ukraine in an acknowledgment that the conflict has entered a “new and different phase”.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, told Deutschlandfunk radio on Thursday that Kyiv was “expecting” Berlin to deliver Marder and Leopard tanks, as well as the anti-aircraft Gepard system.
“The lists are there, the German government knows about them, but unfortunately it remains silent until today,” Melnyk said.
Norbert Röttgen, a member of the opposition CDU and longstanding supporter of greater German military involvement in Ukraine, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Germany has been too slow, too late and doing little to put the maximum pressure on Vladimir Putin.”
He said polls in Germany showed there was growing support and majority for imposing an immediate energy embargo on Russia. He accepted it would mean significant economic disadvantages, but insisted there would be no economic catastrophe. He said German industry had to realise this was a war for freedom.
The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, had pressed the G7 including Germany to set out a timetable to end its dependency on Russian energy, but the G7 statement issued on Thursday contained only an aspiration to reduce dependency.
Over nearly two days of meetings, the EU this week has so far only agreed to end Russian coal imports by August, but a consensus on introducing a phased oil or gas embargo has not yet been reached. Josep Borrell, the EU foreign affairs chief, said it was likely to be introduced “sooner or later”. The issue is set to be discussed again at an EU foreign affairs meeting on Monday.
In 2021, revenues from fossil fuels made up 35% of Russia’s budget income. Russia exported more than 49% of its oil and 74% of its gas to Europe.
Russia is heading for the deepest recession since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Britain predicted on Friday, as it estimated more than £275bn ($358.52bn) of Russian money had been frozen by international sanctions in recent weeks.
