MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. The United States is benefiting handsomely from the anti-Russian sanctions in several spheres simultaneously, Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Alexander Venediktov told TASS on Thursday.
"Let’s take a look at the agricultural sector. Six or seven years ago the Americans resorted to provoking a global food crisis, achieving considerable growth in the export of its agricultural products, and used the situation in Ukraine for a redivision of the markets, which includes the goal of promoting genetically modified products," he maintained.
Moreover, "it is in the interests of the United States to completely cut off the Europeans from all alternative sources of hydrocarbon supplies and to make them totally dependent on the US LNG [liquefied natural gas]," Venediktov continued.
"But we are all well aware of the forecasts regarding the substitution of the Russian natural gas supplies to Europe - it will be impossible in the next couple of years," he noted. "The Americans, of course, don’t care, they will sell as much as they can to the Europeans at the right price, and the Europeans should make do with the missing volumes themselves. This is the logic of Washington," he argued.
Commenting on the recently reported acts of sabotage against the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines, Venediktov stated that "it was an act of international terrorism."
Unprecedented damage to three threads of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines was uncovered on September 26. Swedish seismologists recorded two explosions along the pipelines. Investigators from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) later opened a criminal case based on international terrorism charges over the blasts. It is currently impossible to figure out how long it will take to restore the pipelines to operational capacity.
"This fact has been already established, so there is nothing to add, all official statements were delivered," he pointed out.
Regarding American shale oil, Venediktov recounted that its production becomes unprofitable below a certain price on the market.
"In general, production methods for shale oil pose a very serious environmental issue that should be addressed to Western governments, who are so vigorous promoting the environmental agenda on the world stage," he said.
"This is another example of their hypocrisy - they are pushing for the green transition and the green economy, but at the same time they inflict enormous damage on the environment and the planet's ecological system in general," Venediktov added.