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The Russian president reacted to the debate in Europe about a possible embargo on Russian oil and gas supplies, warning that with this decision “unfriendly” countries “will affect the entire world economy.”
An economic war. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, held a meeting with the main actors of his Government to address the situation in the Russian hydrocarbons sector and said that the consequences could be “very painful, especially for those who promote this policy”, referring to to the intention of sanctions against Russian hydrocarbons from the European Union.
Deputy Minister Alexander Novak, considered the “energy czar”, was present at the videoconference. Since the beginning of the war, Western countries have been trying at all costs to expel Russian suppliers from the market and replace their energy resources with alternative supplies. Although they have met resistance especially in the Eastern European countries that are more dependent on Russian gas.
For Putin, a probable embargo of its hydrocarbons by the West “will inevitably affect the entire world economy”, although he admitted that this does not represent an immediate threat to hydrocarbon exports, which are estimated at a daily income of 1,000 million euros for Russia from the beginning of military actions against Ukraine.
“The so-called partners of unfriendly countries admit that they cannot do without energy resources, including natural gas. There is simply no reasonable replacement for Europe now,” Putin said.
For Putin, the substitution of Russian gas “is possible”, but not yet, since “everyone knows that at the moment there are simply no free volumes” available, so that Europe has other alternatives.
According to him, “supplies from other countries, first of all, from the US, which can be sent to Europe, to consumers, will be several times more expensive, will be reflected in people’s standard of living and in the competitiveness of the European economy”, he predicted.
The president blamed the countries of Europe for causing the rise in prices. “European countries constantly talk about rejecting Russian supplies, which further destabilizes the market and they themselves, with their own hands, inflate prices, mainly to its citizens,” he said.
The president threatened to sell his hydrocarbons in Asia in the event of an embargo against Russia. “We are starting from the assumption that in the near future supplies of energy resources in the western direction are going to decrease. That is why it is important to strengthen the trend of recent years: step by step reorient our export to the markets of the South and the east, which grow rapidly,” he added.
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said energy prices are 45% higher than a year ago and are the main cause of inflation in the euro zone, which shot up to 7.5% in March.
with EFE
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