RUSSIA: The Kremlin downplayed the impact of lost gas sales to Europe on Wednesday, saying that there were other countries besides those in the European Nation who are willing to buy Russian energy as Europe seeks to reduce its dependence on Moscow.
Responding to a question if the prolonged halt in gas exports to Europe would be sustainable even in the future, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a briefing that other buyers would be able to offset the demand.
“Europe is not the only consumer of natural gas and not the only continent that needs natural gas,” Peskov said.
“Regions are developing at a much faster pace … they can compensate for the (reduced) demand for (Russian) gas in Europe,” he said.
Since the beginning of Putin’s “special military operation” against its rival-neighbour Ukraine, the global stage has been alarmed by the severity of the atrocities and horrors of what some call, ‘war crimes, perpetrated by Russia.
Russia’s international ties have been hugely severed and so, the European Union has vowed to reduce its reliance on Russian gas and energy, introducing restrictions on Russian oil imports and proposing a price cap on Russian gas.
Simultaneously, Russia’s state gas giant Gazprom has drastically lowered the volume of its gas supplies to Europe, citing customers’ troubles to pay in roubles, rather than the designated dollars or euros, and other technical failures, which it blames on Western sanctions.
Among other countries who are benefiting from this Russian export vacuum, is one of its strongest allies, China, which is incidentally buying more, and cheaper, energy from Russia this year.
Moscow is also discussing a major new infrastructure project to pipe gas to China via Mongolia.
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