BERLIN, August 25. /ITAR-TASS/. The West’s sanctions against Russia and Russia’s response negatively affect Germany’s exports, the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations said in a press release on Monday.

German exports to Russia dropped by 15.5% in the first six months of 2014 and reached €2.8 billion, the press release said.

Russia has dropped to third place among Germany’s East European importers after Poland and the Czech Republic.

The Committee believes that the negative tendencies created by the mutual European and Russian sanctions will only gain momentum, the press release said.

“By the end of the year we’ll lose from 20% to 25% in terms of export to Russia. This will jeopardize about 50,000 jobs in Germany,” the press release quoted the Committee’s chairman, Eckhard Cordes, as saying.

“Last spring’s discussion on the sanctions alone had a negative impact on the unstable economic situation in the EU and Russia. Everything must be done to prevent a spiral of sanctions and ‘turn off’ the sanction regime through constructive dialogue,” Cordes said.

Last year trade turnover between Germany and Russia reached €76 billion. About 6,000 German companies cooperate with Russian entrepreneurs. The total investments amounted to €20 billion. About 300,000 jobs in Germany depend on economic relations with Russia.