OREANDA-NEWS. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said he sincerely would like to ban Russian energy imports, but at the moment this is not possible. Excerpts from an interview with politician Die Zeit leads Reuters.

“If I followed what my heart tells me, we would immediately put an embargo on everything,” he said.

According to Lindner, such steps will jeopardize the German economy and social stability in the country. “We cannot take responsibility for this,” said the head of the German Finance Ministry.

He assured that Germany would refuse to import Russian oil and gas "as soon as possible", but this is not a matter of weeks, but years.

As Lindner explained, such a move should "cause more damage to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin than to us."

“Because it's about following a strategy that we can follow not for a couple of weeks, but perhaps for years. Gas, fossil fuels, oil and coal must be treated differently because their replacement requires different approaches. My answer is: as soon as possible,” the minister said.

Austrian Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler also noted that the country lived well with cheap Russian gas, and dependence on imports from Russia cannot be ended overnight.

Earlier, the German Finance Ministry announced its readiness to tighten sanctions against Russia.