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‘Europe's energy security without Russia is impossible’, Duma Speaker says

Vyacheslav Volodin emphasized that the sanctions targeting Russia had led to an energy crisis in the European states

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/. Europe's energy security without Russia is impossible, European heads of state need to lift sanctions and launch Nord Stream 2, otherwise they will further complicate the lives of their citizens, Russian Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on his Telegram channel on Friday.

"Europe's energy security without Russia is impossible. <...> The moment of truth has come for the heads of European states," Volodin said. According to him, they have two ways out of the situation "which they have created for themselves." "First, remove the illegitimate sanctions against our country and launch Nord Stream 2, or number two, leave everything as is, which will lead to economic problems and complicate the lives of citizens even more," the Duma speaker said.

He added that last year European states bought 341 billion cubic meters of gas, "of which almost 50% is Russian pipeline gas." "The sanctions targeting our country has led to an energy crisis in the European states that initiated them," Volodin stressed. As a result, he noted, French President Emmanuel Macron tried to iron out the gas shortage dilemma during a trip to Algeria, but he didn’t manage to do so.

"Even if all pipeline gas exports from Africa, the Middle East and CIS countries are redirected, Europe will not be able to compensate for the 62.8% of the volume previously supplied by Russia," Volodin pointed out.

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Vyacheslav Volodin

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