Germany says it will halt imports of Russian oil by the end of this year opening the door for supplies from exporting nations like Nigeria.
“We will halve oil by the summer and will be at zero by the end of the year, and then gas will follow,” said German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock.
Germany currently buys a quarter of its oil and 40% of its gas from Russia and has warned that it could face a recession if supplies suddenly stopped.
The US has already banned Russian oil imports, while the UK plans to phase them out by the end of the year.
Ms Baerbock said Germany would follow a “European roadmap” in phasing out oil and gas imports.
The EU has said it will make Europe independent from Russian energy “well before 2030”.
“Our joint exit, the complete exit of the European Union, is our common strength,” Ms Baerbock said.
Germany has already called off the opening of Russian gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, in response to the war.
Earlier this week, German economic institutes warned that immediately halting Russian imports would spark a sharp recession in Europe’s biggest economy by 2023.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised Germany for falling short compared to the commitments made by the US and the UK to curb Russian energy imports.
Germany’s finance minister, Christian Lindner, told the BBC that his country was working “as fast as possible” to implement an embargo on Russian energy.
Read also: Russia-Ukraine war slows global recovery as IMF slices growth projection to 3.4%
He said an immediate halt to Russian energy imports could see the physical shutdown of German manufacturers and carmakers.
Mr Lindner said that Germany’s aim was to enforce sanctions which would “which hurt him (Putin) more than us as Europeans and our single market”.
“I don’t fear economic costs (of buying less Russian energy). I fear the physical scenario, if you have to stop the supply, for a complete production line, this causes more than economic costs,” Mr Lindner told the BBC.
Mr Lindner said Russia was responsible for many of the economic and geopolitical issues hitting the world economy.
“Russia is responsible for all the geopolitical and economic risks” arising from the war – inflation, food crisis and a serious debt crisis in developing countries”
He also criticised the approach of previous German governments regarding the country’s dependence on Russian energy.
“It was a strategic miscalculation from German governments, over the last two decades, and now we have to work on energy diversification.”
He also insisted that Vladimir Putin’s calculation that Germany would continue to rely on Russian energy was “wrong”.
About 60% of Russia’s oil exports go to Europe, and another 20% go to China.
