MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian branch of German engineering giant Siemens continues to fulfill all project and contract obligations to Russian customers, a spokesperson for Siemens’ office in Russia told RIA Novosti Monday.
“The main priority now is to encourage dialogue. It is very important to keep negotiating in this difficult geopolitical situation. We respect the policy priorities and keep a close watch on the situation. We hope it will be normalized without any additional sanctions,” Kristina Nevskaya said.
“As for the company’s projects we are meeting all project and contract obligations to our Russian customers. They are not limited by sanctions or embargo so far,” she said.
Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser earlier announced that the engineering giant would closely follow the EU sanctions policy, the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported. Kaeser also said he refused to estimate the losses his company might suffer in case new sanctions were imposed on Russia.
A spokesperson for Russian Railways, which cooperates with Siemens on rail equipment, told RIA Novosti Monday that Siemens had not sent any official notification on a change in relations.
On Saturday, leaders of the G7 group of nations accused Russia of failing to follow through on the Geneva accords that aimed to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine. The members of the G7 threatened Moscow with tougher sanctions over its role in events in Ukraine.
Moscow criticized Washington for using the “language of sanctions” against it, saying the move was counterproductive.
The German company is engaged in a number of projects in various spheres in Russia, including a cooperation agreement with the Sinara Group on manufacturing main line freight locomotives.
Russian Railways is already operating eight high speed Sapsan trains manufactured by Siemens for routes connecting Moscow with Saint Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod. In December 2011, the two companies signed a contract for the delivery of eight additional Sapsan trains and a maintenance package worth over $800 million.
