Further sanctions imposed on Russia will fail to bring about an effect desirable for the West, so all the sides should master their feelings and “make a step backwards” for the relations to improve, Matthias Platzeck, chairman of the German-Russian Forum and former Minister President of Brandenburg, told the ARD TV channel on Wednesday.
“If we continue to whip up the spiral of sanctions, it will not result in peace,” he said.
According to Platzeck, restrictive measures “have failed to even approximately bring about” what the West had wanted from Moscow. He reminded that for four years of reciprocal sanctions, cooperation between Russia and the European Union had deteriorated in politics, security and economy.
“We have to look for new ways so as to restart the dialogue,” Platzeck said.
Speaking about poisoning in the United Kingdom of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, the politician called for “a sober glance” at the situation. Primarily, the probe conducted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the substance used for the Salisbury attack should yield results.
“Germany must make a contribution to impartiality,” Platzeck added.