Jan van Aken, the chair of Germany’s Left (die Linke), called the U.S. government’s decision to allow the sale of Russian crude oil at sea for the next 30 days a “double wrong signal”. Speaking to RTL and ntv on Friday, he criticised Washington for permitting Russia to sell its oil while it is engaged in what he calls an unlawful war of aggression and while the U.S. “bombs Iran”. He said the price of oil will rise sharply, but that the United States “doesn’t care about Russia’s illegal war” and lets Russia continue to sell its oil. In his view, this sends a bad message to the world.
Van Aken further warned that the policy would reinforce the idea that the stronger party can do what it wants. “Whoever has the power is allowed to bomb other countries” he said. “That is exactly the wrong direction”.
He also criticised the CDU’s leader Friedrich Merz for his conduct during a recent visit to the White House. “The figure Merz presented while he was in the White House was downright embarrassing” van Aken said. “Trump is inciting attacks against other EU states, such as Spain, and Merz sits on his lap, smiles, and nods”. “That is unacceptable”.