Harmful Dependencies in German Trade with Russia? (in German)

The Russian annexation of the Crimea and the growing tensions in the Ukraine has put sanctions against Russia on the agenda of Western policy-makers. But in how far would the German economy be affected by restrictions on trade and investment relations? In their contribution the authors Claus-Friedrich Laaser and Klaus Schrader analyze the economic dependencies between Germany and Russia with respect to foreign trade and foreign direct investment. Their result is that German exporters would suffer from restrictions on business relations with Russia, but they would be able to compensate possible losses. Interruptions of Russian gas deliveries, however, would be a more severe problem. Due to Russian dependencies on revenues from raw material exports as well as on technology imports from Western countries the Russian economy would suffer even more.