Russian diaspora in Germany holds protest rally against Western sanctions imposed on Russia
Thousands of Russian-speaking people in Germany have held a protest rally against sanctions imposed by the West on Russia over its military operation in neighboring Ukraine.
On Sunday, around 2,000 mostly Russian-speaking demonstrators rallied in the western city of Cologne, strongly urging Berlin to stop supporting Ukraine and lift sanctions it has already imposed on Russia after Moscow commenced its “special military operation” in the ex-Soviet country on February 24.
The protest rally, which was organized by Russian-speaking diaspora groups in the German city, was met by a few dozen anti-Russia counter-protesters who had also convened in the shadow of Cologne’s hulking Gothic cathedral to express support for Ukraine and demand an end to Moscow’s operation there.
Since the operation was launched, the United States and its European allies have supplied a large cache of advanced weapons to Ukraine and imposed waves of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow, despite Russia's repeated warnings that such measures would only prolong the war.
Germany is home to some three million people of Russian ethnic background.
“Germany is in chaos. How will we survive this winter?” said Elena Kolbasnikova, an organizer of the rally, many of its participants held Russian flags or banners with the letters NATO crossed out with a red line.
One German speaker, a baker, said high gas prices would leave him without a job by the end of the year, blaming Germany for refusing to open the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
After the West imposed sanctions on Russia, Moscow also began to reduce its gas deliveries to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The reduced flows have complicated efforts across Europe to fill up vital gas storage facilities, a key strategic goal to make it through the winter months, when governments fear Russia may halt flows altogether.
The significant gas supply reductions have prompted the EU to now strive to boost gas imports from elsewhere, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Norway, Qatar, and the US.
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