In Delhi, German NSA hopes no 'back filing' of sanctions will take place

The German National Security Advisor, Jens Plötner, who was on a Delhi visit on Wednesday, has hoped that "back filing" of sanctions imposed by his country against Russia will take place. The West, including Germany and the EU, has announced a number of sanctions against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on February 24th.

Speaking to the media, German NSA sitting alongside German Envoy Walter J. Lindner said, "When it comes to sanctions, it's only fair that we carry the brunt of the costs. It's in our neighborhood, it's in Europe." Pointing out that "we know that acting together on sanctions might be asking too much... we would like to see a situation where there is no back filing on the sanctions we operate and no friendly country in the world takes the step of taking economic advantage of the war."

His comments come even as many countries in Asia, including India and China, have not joined the Western sanctions. In fact, Moscow has offered discounted Russian oil to India. Indian state-run oil companies are in talks to get discounted oil, but even then, Russia historically has been a marginal supplier of crude oil to India.

The NSA, who is the Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to German chancellor Olaf Scholz, explained, "we are willing to carry significant weight (of sanction) in this but others won't neutralise the burden we are putting on ourselves." In Delhi, he held meetings with NSA Ajit Doval, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla in which the Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the agenda.

On German Dependency on Russian Energy, the NSA said Berlin has been "engaged in a forceful policy" of reducing its dependency on Russia and we "hope to be independent from Russian coal in the course of this year, and hope to significantly reduce dependency on Russian oil starting this year," but it will take "longer to totally renounce Russian gas." Germany gets 30% of its gas from Russia. The country also announced it would halt the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline in the aftermath of the Russian invasion.

Presenting his country's case, he said, "As you see, we are steadily decreasing and not increasing what we are buying from Russia." This will be a suggestion we will make to our friends that it might not be the time to do exactly the contrary to what we are all doing. After the Delhi visit, he goes to Tokyo for talks.

On talks in Delhi, NSA Plötner said, "The aim of my discussions here in Delhi is to better understand how this geopolitical specificity of India plays into your analysis of what is going on in Ukraine." We might have different approaches, but we will still come to the common conclusion that that can't go unchecked". While India has abstained at the UN on issues relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has called for respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states, a long-standing policy of New Delhi.

During the meeting with NSA Doval, he emphasised "India’s consistent approach to the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law and our commitment to the UN Charter."

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, US Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh, and Dutch NSA are in Delhi today for talks, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be there on Friday.Asked about Lavrov's visit, the German NSA said, "It can be very useful that foreign minister Lavrov has discussions here in New Delhi and I trust that our Indian friends, be it behind closed doors, also have a clear message."

He also praised Turkey's "efforts" in Russia-Ukraine talks, and explained Berlin's dialogue with Jakarta as a response to Western countries' calls for Russia to be removed from the G20.Indonesia holds the G20 summit in November as the president of the group for this year.