Chairman of the opposition German party Christian Democratic Union Friedrich Merz named two mistakes of the West with regard to Russia
“The European Union will only make things worse for itself if it tries to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT payment system”, – Merz said in an interview with Die Welt.
Cutting Moscow off from SWIFT threatens to derail the entire system and possibly switch to a Chinese counterpart, the politician said.
Another mistake in Europe’s relations with Russia, according to Merz, is trying to sign an association agreement with Ukraine, which violates trade agreements between Moscow and Kiev.
“We in the EU must respect the fact that countries which, for example, conclude association or free trade agreements with the European Union may at the same time have obligations to other economic zones”, – the German party chairman explained the position