While Europeans have been saying since the beginning of the Russian war in Ukraine that they want to reduce their dependence on Russian energy, Vladimir Putin responds by saying that he is considering where to direct his exports. “We assume that deliveries to the West will decrease in the future,” said the Russian President. We must therefore “refocus our exports towards the fast-growing markets of the South and East,” he declared on Thursday, April 14, during a government meeting dedicated to the energy sector in the context of sanctions.international.
Opportunities, options and alternatives are opening up for us. As for Russian oil, gas and coal, we will be able to increase their consumption on the domestic market (…) and increase the supply of energy resources to other regions of the world that really need them,” he said already declared the day before Vladimir Putin.
The Russian President believes that European speeches “destabilize the market and push up prices”. He still wants to be optimistic: “Of course that causes us difficulties, but we have the resources and the possibilities to find alternative solutions quickly,” he said.
For Vladimir Putin, “attempts by Western countries to oust Russian suppliers, to replace our energy resources with alternative sources will inevitably affect the entire world economy,” he assures that “the consequences of such a step can become very painful, especially for the initiators of such a policy”.
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A not new Turn to Asia
Vladimir Putin has not indicated which countries he has in mind when he speaks of South and East, but China, whose appetite for hydrocarbons continues to grow, shares a border with Russia. However, Beijing has a reputation for being a difficult negotiating partner and Russia is trying to look beyond that neighbour.
A few years ago, Russia initiated a turn to Asia. “This Russian vision is not new,” confirmed recently to La Tribune Jacques Sapir, principal investigator at EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences) and foreign fellow of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Russia’s energy strategy for 2030, then 2040, was adopted in 2010. And each version insisted a little more on turning to Asia to reduce Russia’s exports’ dependence on Europe. Vladimir Putin always had the idea of reducing his dependence on Western countries and the United States, but mainly on European countries, says Jacques Sapir.
“For Russia, turning to Asia has become indispensable for its freedom of action” (Jacques Sapir)
The US is focused on enforcing sanctions
This call by the Russian president to develop new outlets for Russian fossil fuels comes as Europeans consider expanding sanctions on Moscow’s hydrocarbons in response to military intervention in Ukraine. Russian oil and gas, which continues to flow to Europe – its first market – provides important revenues for Moscow. The EU, US and Japan have already announced an embargo on Russian coal, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has indicated that she will propose a target of independence from the EU over Russian fossil fuels by 2027.
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In any case, the United States believes that it has imposed major sanctions on Russia and is focusing on their enforcement, particularly on fighting any attempt at circumvention, that is, the risk of Russia circumventing the measures imposed by the United States, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan pointed out during a symposium this Thursday, April 14. “We will have announcements over the next two weeks identifying targets trying to facilitate this outbreak both in Russia and beyond,” he said.
The National Security Advisor also assured that the assets of the Russian oligarchs are now frozen because of the sanctions, such as their yachts or their financial assets: “Our goal is not to return them to their owners at the end of the conflict”, but “to better protect them use”. And to add: “There are tools that we already have and others that we might be able to develop, and we are actively considering them.”
Some US lawmakers have already called for the sale or liquidation of sanctions-hit Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.
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(With AFP)
latribune.fr
Apr 14, 2022 at 5:04 p.m