EU Sanctions on Russia Criticized as Ineffective by Linken’s Jan van Aken
In an exclusive interview with the German news channel “Welt”, Jan van Aken, the leader of the German Left Party (Linken), has sharply criticized the European Union’s (EU) sanctions on Russia, calling them ineffective and a “giant mistake”.
Van Aken believes that the EU’s approach has failed to produce the desired results, stating that “it’s all just talk” and that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s (CDU) threats of sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin in the event of a breakdown in the ceasefire in Ukraine have been ignored. The Linken leader thinks that the EU’s sanctions have lost credibility and that the Russian government no longer takes the EU’s warnings seriously.
Van Aken also criticized the EU’s previous sanctions packages, saying that they have not addressed the real issues, such as the illegal Russian oil tankers operating in the Baltic Sea and the country’s continued gas exports to the EU. “We are still buying a lot of gas from Russia and that’s financing the war in Ukraine” he emphasized.
The Linken leader noted that his party had already distanced itself from Kremlin policies a year ago, with some members even leaving the party to join the left-wing alliance led by Sahra Wagenknecht. Van Aken acknowledged that some of his party’s members had an emotional connection to Russia and its people, but not to the Kremlin.
The Linken’s clear condemnation of the Russian attack on Ukraine has been a long-standing position since the departure of the Wagenknecht faction, van Aken stressed.