Germany should not deprive itself of access to Russian gas for good but instead should seek a diplomatic settlement of the Ukraine conflict, Michael Kretschmer, minister-president of the eastern German state of Saxony, said on Sunday. “We should not cut off our access to Russian gas forever,” Kretschmer told the Funke media group. The minister-president is skeptical about the European Union’s plans to phase out Russian energy supplies and switch to renewable sources as he said it already caused a surge in energy prices in the country, where people are struggling to make ends meet amid skyrocketing prices.
