MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden's decision to run for a second term could be a serious test for Europeans’ energy security, Leonid Slutsky, the head of the State Duma’s Committee on International Affairs and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, said on his Telegram channel on Saturday.

"The US is akin to a drug dealer. First it has made Europeans addicted to LNG, and now it threatens them with a ‘withdrawal.’ Biden's decision to run for a second term could be, above all, a serious test for Europeans in matters of energy security," Slutsky noted.

He suspects that Biden will use topics related to the solution of acute social problems, such as the reduction of domestic energy prices, to woo the electorate.

"Experts do not rule out that there may follow calls for banning the export of LNG to stabilize the market in the United States itself. This is a good time for Europeans to give thought to this. For example, whether the expected volume of liquefied natural gas supplies from the US will continue. Washington previously spared no effort in a bid to sever Russia's energy ties with Europe," Slutsky explained.

He recalled that the anti-Russian sanctions and the sabotage against the Nord Streams actually forced the Old World to buy US energy resources at prices 30%-50% above those charged by Russian companies.

"But at the same time, LNG reserves in the US, as it turns out, are not infinite. No one will be able to prevent Biden and his team, aiming for a new presidential term, from reducing exports to the benefit of their voters. In other words, Europe's energy security is now tightly pegged to the US election cycle. Something has to be done urgently to appease the voters? ‘Sorry, Europeans, the next shipment of LNG will be available won't be coming soon!’ Will Euro-Atlantic solidarity be able to withstand such starvation rations? A very big question," Slutsky remarked.

"Can anyone recall when the supply of Russian pipeline gas depended on elections in Russia? The European countries, as they say, will be able to see for themselves the validity of Moscow's warnings about the unreliability and selfishness of their overseas ‘partner.’ Business in America has long been "not as usual," the senior legislator concluded.

Biden said on Friday that he had already made a decision about running for president in 2024 and would announce it officially before long. The US presidential election is scheduled for November 2024. The previous, Republican head of state, Donald Trump, announced in November 2022 that he would enter the race for the nation's highest office.