Putin said he would find another market for gas

Russian President Vladimir Putin – Photo: REUTERS

Since launching a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, Russia has faced a series of sweeping sanctions from the West, including an embargo on energy exports.

Speaking at a meeting on April 13, President Putin said that Russia has all the resources and opportunities to quickly find an alternative market.

“For oil, gas and coal, we can increase consumption on the domestic market … and increase supply to other parts of the world where they really need them,” Putin said. .

Currently, the United States has banned the import of oil and gas from Russia. The European Union (EU) and Japan ban coal imports from Russia.

40% of the EU’s gas supply comes from Russia, so some member countries have objected to Russia’s immediate shutdown of the valve, and at the same time sought to gradually limit energy imports from Russia.

Germany also removed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, built to increase Russian gas supplies to the EU.

Also on April 13, AFP news agency reported that leading German economic institutes warned that giving up Russian gas immediately would mean Germany would fall into recession next year.

Specifically, if Germany stops importing Russian gas from mid-April, economic growth will slow to 1.9% this year and push the country into recession next year.

At the present time, if there is no boycott of Russian gas, the German economy is also recovering slowly because of the impact of COVID-19. The 2022 growth forecast is only 2.7%, down from 4.8% made in October last year.

Germany imports 55% of its gas and about a third of its oil from Russia, and half of Germany’s coal also comes from Russia. This makes Germany still hesitate to call for a boycott of Russian gas from the EU.

The gas supply is irreplaceable in the short term. We will do more harm to ourselves than to them,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said.