German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that Germans must put peace before economic considerations  and accept tougher sanctions against Russia, if it is necessary.

The European Union agreed to impose new sanctions on Moscow following the crash of the Boeing 777 of Malaysia Airlines and the deaths of 298 people in eastern Ukraine which is controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, sold about 36 billion euros of goods to Russia last year, which is almost one third of EU’s total exports.

However, German exports to Russia dropped by 14% in the first four months of this year and business associations warn that at least 25,000 jobs might be lost in Germany.