Europe was currently dealing with a hard and unforeseeable winter season when it pertained to its energy materials as it wants to phase out all Russian imports.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday once again threatened to entirely stop all materials, a relocation which he hinted would leave Europe to “freeze.”
Russia has actually currently stopped gas materials to the area mentioning technical concerns on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, leaving the area susceptible as it attempts to renew energy storage ahead of the cooler months.
Responding to EU propositions to carry out cost caps on Russian energy imports, Putin informed magnate in Vladivostok that Russia might yet choose to rip up existing supply agreements.
“We will not supply gas, oil, coal, heating oil — we will not supply anything,” Putin stated.
Sergei Karpukhin|Afp|Getty Images
“Will there be any political decisions that contradict the contracts? Yes, we just won’t fulfill them. We will not supply anything at all if it contradicts our interests,” Putin stated at the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia’s far east.
“We will not supply gas, oil, coal, heating oil — we will not supply anything,” Putin stated.
“We would only have one thing left to do: as in the famous Russian fairy tale, we would let the wolf’s tail freeze,” he stated.
Russian paper Pravda explains the tale as including a shrewd fox who made a silly wolf catch fish in the frozen river by putting his tail into an ice hole.
“The fox would hop around the desperate and hungry wolf saying ” freeze, freeze, the wolf’s tail” until the ice hole froze trapping the wolf in the ice. Men from the village then came and beat the wolf for all the bad things that he had done to them in summer. The wolf struggled and escaped, but his tail was left in the frozen ice hole,” Pravda stated.
Energy rationing
Putin’s risk to stop all materials raises the threat of energy rationing in Europe this winter season. The EU has actually currently hired its members to willingly decrease their gas intake by 15% in the fall and winter season however that may not suffice to ease the requirement for constraints on gas usage.
A variety of European federal governments have actually revealed procedures to safeguard residents from soaring energy costs. In the meantime, Western countries are attempting to put pressure on Russia’s energy incomes, which they state are moneying the unprovoked intrusion of Ukraine, by proposing cost caps on Russian oil and gas.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday explained the scenario dealing with Europe as “extraordinary … because Russia is an unreliable supplier and is manipulating our energy markets.”
She stated the Commission would advance instant procedures to assist customers, consisting of a compulsory target for minimizing electrical energy usage at peak hours, a cap on incomes of business producing electrical energy with low expenses, and other strategies to share the problem of energy cost increases.
“Low carbon energy sources are making unexpected revenues, which do not reflect their production costs. It is now time for consumers to benefit from the low costs of low carbon energy sources, like renewables,” von der Leyen stated in a declaration, stating nonrenewable fuel source business must likewise add to reducing pressures on customers.
“Oil and gas companies have also made massive profits. We will therefore propose a solidarity contribution for fossil fuel companies. Because all energy sources must help address this crisis.”
Von der Leyen stated energy utility business need to be supported to handle the volatility of the marketplaces and proposed a cap on Russian gas. “The objective here is very clear. We must cut Russia’s revenues which Putin uses to finance this atrocious war against Ukraine.”
At the start of the war, she kept in mind that the EU imported around 40% of its gas fromRussia It had actually lowered that level to 9% of its gas imports, she stated.
EU energy ministers are set to fulfill on Friday to go over the propositions laid out by the Commission.
