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Russian President Vladimir Putin is weaponizing energy, the White House claims, a day after he threatened to cut off all energy exports to the West if the United States went ahead with its gas caps.
Putin on Wednesday threatened to cut off energy supplies to the West entirely if it tries to cap the prices of Russian exports. He also vowed to continue advancing Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine until its goals are achieved.
“It shows that Putin is once again weaponizing energy through his words and actions. But the president (Joe Biden) and our partners in Europe predicted the playbook. We saw this and we’ve been preparing for it for months. We have discussed different processes for this price cap,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said at her daily news briefing on Wednesday.
Also read: “From the very beginning of the conflict in Ukraine…”: PM Modi at the Russian Economic Forum
The U.S. and European Union have formed a working group to study ways to increase alternative sources of natural gas in Europe and help reduce European demand for Russian energy through improved efficiency and clean energy deployment, she said.
“This is something we will continue to do to help Europe into the winter. But as we have seen, this process by the task force is already having a positive impact. Gas shortages in Europe will emerge during the critical winter heating season. Although Russia With production cuts, Germany will still meet its gas storage targets ahead of schedule. Europe as a whole will reach much higher levels than last year,” she said.
“We’re ready for that. We know this is going to be part of the playbook, and Russia is weaponizing energy, as it has been for the past few months, so we’re going to be ready for that move,” the press secretary said.
Separately, Vedant Patel, deputy press secretary of the State Department, told reporters at a separate news conference that the Black Sea Grains Initiative is a humanitarian arrangement to provide much-needed food to the world’s hungry.
Also read: Putin warns ‘no gas, no oil’ for countries capping prices
“The U.S. has not provided nor provided any sanctions relief in exchange for Russia’s participation in the Black Sea Grains Initiative. In fact, U.S. sanctions have always had clear exemptions for food and fertilizers, and our sanctions have never targeted humanitarian aid,” he clarified.
“We would like to see food and fertilizers entering the global market. Russia must continue to deliver on its commitments through the Black Valley Initiative. Some of the other allegations we have seen, number one, that global food prices are rising, are not. In fact, due to With the arrangement of the Black Sea port, global food prices have fallen,” he said.
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