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Russia wants to continue supplying the world with gas and LNG, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, amid worries that an escalation of the crisis in Ukraine could disrupt supply to Europe.
“Russia, for its part, intends to continue uninterrupted supplies of this raw material, including LNG, to world markets,” Putin said at the 6th Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Doha.
Leaders from the EU, the U.K. and the U.S. have pledged to impose sanctions on Moscow over its move to recognize two breakaway Ukrainian regions as independent and deploy troops there for “peacekeeping functions.”
It’s still unclear whether sanctions will target energy, as Europe is heavily dependent on Russian gas. In 2020, 35 percent of EU gas imports came from Russia, up from 26 percent in 2010. In 2021, Russia’s share of gas imports into the EU was more than 42 percent via pipeline alone, not including LNG shipments.
Putin implied that sanctions on Russian gas, which he called “one of the most environmentally friendly types of fuel,” would undermine global climate efforts.
“We are convinced that it is in the interests of the world community to ensure that the energy transition does not turn into a means of advancing the political and economic interests of individual players and, moreover, is not accompanied by sanctions or other restrictions,” he said.
The EU is in the process of finalizing its sanctions package, with Irish Minister for European Affairs Thomas Byrne saying ahead of a General Affairs Council meeting that it would be “agreed today.”
Source: Politico
