Olaf Scholz Rejects Vladimir Putin's Demand Of Payments In Rubles For Gas-related Trade. "What we have learned so far boils down to fact that there are fixed contracts where the currency in which payment is made is part of contract," said Scholz. #sanctions #Germany #Energy #Scholz #Russia #Ruble Europe will end its energy dependence on Russia but to do so from one day to the next would plunge it into a recession, risking hundreds of thousands of jobs and entire industrial sectors, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday. "Sanctions should not hurt European states harder than the Russian leadership," Scholz told the Bundestag lower house of parliament. eudebates.tv/ #eudebates The European Commission will look into the question of energy price caps after an extensive debate on the topic pushed by Spain at the EU summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday. Germany and many other countries are sceptical about market interventions against high energy prices, he told a news conference at the end of the two day EU summit. #sanctions #Germany #Energy #Scholz #Russia Earlier, a European Union source said Germany and the Netherlands had opposed the southern countries in a “tough” debate on the issue of price caps. European countries had agreed however to cooperate on the joint purchase of gas on a voluntary basis, Scholz said. The German Foreign Minister stated that the war in Ukraine “destroys” the Kremlin and that they will constantly tighten punishments. German Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz assured Parliament on Wednesday that the sanctions decided by the West against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine “work” and warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that there will be more and that “it is just the beginning”. “We see sanctions working. This is just the beginning, we will constantly tighten sanctions,” Scholz said in a debate in the Bundestag in which he sent Putin the message that the war in Ukraine “destroys Russia.” Scholz said in relation to the war in Ukraine and a possible negotiated solution that “Ukrainians and no one else negotiate” about that country, although he added that Berlin will do “everything we can” to contribute to that process that leads to peace. “We have avoided confrontation in Europe for eighty years and it must remain so,” said the German Foreign Minister, who insisted that in the war in Ukraine NATO “will not be a party, that is what the European Union (EU) and the United States agree on.” About the Russian president, he recalled that he has spoken with him on several occasions in recent weeks and assured: “He has to know the truth, war destroys the future of Russia. The guns must shut up right now.” Scholz alluded to the reception of refugees from Ukraine in several European countries, including Germany and proclaimed that they are welcome but that there is “a huge task ahead” and praised the “unprecedented wave of solidarity” demonstrated by citizens. eudebates.tv/ #eudebates