Russian President Vladimir Putin says Europe has no alternative than to keep using Russian energy, warning of “extremely painful” economic consequences if the continent tries to replace its supply of oil and gas.
“A reasonable replacement for Europe simply does not exist,” Putin told media via video link from his residence near Moscow on Thursday.
“There are simply no spare volumes in the global market, and deliveries from other countries, primarily the US, which may be sent to Europe, will cost the consumers many times more.”
As we’ve reported in recent days, leaders in Europe are moving to reduce their reliance on Russian energy. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised countries such as Germany that are resisting a total ban on Russian oil and gas over its huge economic cost – saying they have blood on their hands.
However, Putin also acknowledged there were “issues with payments for Russian export energy supplies”, as banks from “unfriendly countries” had been “delaying the transfer of funds”.
“As we have said many times, the most urgent problem here is the disruption of export logistics,” he said.