President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday at an energy conference in Moscow that Russia is not using gas as a political weapon and that he is ready to help Europe with the energy crisis. The gas price has risen by 600 to 800 percent in one year.
This is partly because the demand for energy has risen sharply again after a relative dip during the corona pandemic. There is also uncertainty about the stock. Russian gas accounts for one third of the total gas supply in Europe.
Critics argue that Putin uses energy as a weapon. Not true, the Russian president said: “This is just politically motivated gossip, without any basis.” He said that Russia had also supplied Europe with gas during the Cold War.
Russia ready to increase gas supply
The Russian president stated that the gas market is not balanced or predictable, but that Russia is fulfilling its contractual obligations when it comes to supplying Europe. Russia is also ready to increase the gas supply, Putin said.
The Netherlands is more affected by the high prices than other European countries. Households without a fixed energy contract could spend up to 900 euros more on energy next year. Gas has been the main source of energy here for decades, because all those years we used our own gas from Groningen.
Renewable energy
The European Commission today outlined the measures the EU plans to take to combat the energy crisis. The joint purchasing of gas is also being explored. EU countries will hold a meeting on the rise in gas prices on 26 October.
“The only way to completely decouple gas from electricity is to stop using it to generate energy,” said European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson. “This is the EU’s long-term goal, to replace fossil fuels by renewable energy.”
Half a million households live in energy poverty:
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