Speaking by video on Saturday at a key policy conference in Qatar, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky urged that country and other energy producers to increase their gas exports to Europe as part of a drive to reduce the continent’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels. to decrease.
“The future of Europe rests in your efforts,” said Mr Zelensky in a virtual speech to the Doha Forum in Qatar, one of the world’s largest gas exporters. “I urge you to increase energy production so that Russia understands that no state should use energy as a weapon to blackmail the world.”
Last year, 38 percent of the natural gas used by the European Union came from Russia, says research organization Bruegel. The bloc’s moves to cut itself off from that supply are vital to a wider Western effort to punish Moscow, a major oil and gas producer, for its invasion of Ukraine.
The United States banned Russian energy imports on March 8, and European countries have pledged to gradually follow suit. In Germany, which has been Moscow’s main natural gas buyer, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last month that the country would stop certification of the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline that would connect his country to Russia.
Germany has set itself an ambitious goal of freeing itself from its dependence on Russian natural gas by mid-2024.
But securing alternative supplies of fossil fuels is costly and can take years. Rising energy prices have also prompted Europe to act cautiously in trying to minimize the economic damage on the continent and the pain for the general public.
President Biden and European Commission president Ursula van der Leyen announced Friday that the United States would help secure more liquefied natural gas for Europe, though that plan will be largely symbolic in the near term, as the United States will not enough capacity to export more of that fuel source and Europe does not have the capacity to import significantly more.
The call of Mr. Zelensky’s support for Ukraine during Russia’s invasion of the country was the latest in a series of video speeches urging governments in the United States, Europe and Asia to increase military aid and impose tougher sanctions on Moscow.
“Responsible states such as the state of Qatar are reliable and solid exporters of natural resources,” he said, “and they can contribute to stabilization in Europe.”
