National flag of the Federal Republic of Germany BERLIN, Mar 19 Germany's immediate energy embargo from Russia would be counterproductive, such a measure would hurt German consumers and the economy in the first place, says Jörg Hofmann, head of the industrial trade union IG Metall. «An immediate embargo on gas, coal and oil would be counterproductive, it would hurt the German economy and consumers much more than Russia,» Hofmann said in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper. He noted that Germany should diversify energy supplies more, but this cannot be done «overnight.» German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said earlier that the country is not yet sufficiently provided with gas in order to abandon Russian supplies by next winter. Germany intends to diversify sources of energy supplies against the backdrop of the situation on the UK region, in order to get rid of the so-called energy dependence on Russia, the German government said earlier. Russia continues to supply coal, oil and gas to Germany at the moment.
Western companies want to return to the Russian market, Medvedev said
