Reuters/Berlin

Germany's main business lobby on Monday backed tougher sanctions on Russia, saying such pressure may help solve the conflict in Ukraine, although it could damage both the German and European Union economies.
The EU has frozen assets and banned travel for some Russian officials, after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region and began supporting separatists fighting Kiev's forces in eastern Ukraine.
Ulrich Grillo, the head of the Federation of German Industry (BDI) lobbying group, said more sanctions should not be ruled out. He spoke before EU policymakers meet on Tuesday to discuss whether to impose further sanctions.
"The BDI and I personally have become convinced that the behaviour of the Russian government in the Ukrainian conflict of secession must have noticeable consequences for Moscow," Grillo wrote in a guest contribution for Handelsblatt newspaper.
"As painful as further economic sanctions will be for European business development, for German exports and for individual companies, they cannot and must not be ruled out as  a way to apply pressure on the Russian government."
Germany, Europe's biggest economy, sold about 36 billion euros of goods to Russia last year, almost a third of the EU's total. But its exports to Russia dropped by 14 percent in the first four months of this year and some business groups have warned that the decline endangers some 25,000 jobs in Germany.

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