![Russian President Vladimir Putin with top military officials late last year in Sochi. [Kremlin]](/cnmi_ca/images/2022/01/26/33757-putin-739_416.webp)
WASHINGTON -- The United States on Tuesday (January 25) said attempts by Moscow to "weaponise" its enormous oil and gas industry would backfire, and threatened personal sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We are prepared to implement sanctions with massive consequences" that go far beyond previous measures implemented in 2014 after Russia invaded Ukraine's Crimea region, a senior US official said.
"The gradualism of the past is out," the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. If Russia orders a new invasion of Ukraine, "we'll start at the top of the escalation ladder."
US President Joe Biden Tuesday said he would consider imposing economic sanctions personally targeting Putin if the Russian president orders a new attack on Ukraine.
![View of a Nord Stream 2 receiving station in Germany last year. [John MacDougall/AFP]](/cnmi_ca/images/2022/01/26/33758-000_9nb6cy-739_416.webp)
View of a Nord Stream 2 receiving station in Germany last year. [John MacDougall/AFP]
"Yes. I would see that," Biden said when asked by reporters in Washington.
Addressing concerns in Europe that Russia could push back against sanctions by curbing its own energy exports to heavily dependent Europe, the US official said Russia would also be hurting itself.
"If Russia decides to weaponise its supply of natural gas or crude oil, it wouldn't be without consequences to the Russian economy," a senior US official told reporters.
Although the European Union (EU) sources about 40% of its supply from Russia, Moscow also relies heavily on sales of energy for its national budget, meaning "it's an interdependency," the official said.
The United States and its European allies are scouring global markets for alternative energy sources to mitigate fallout from any conflict, as Europe already finds itself struggling with soaring mid-winter energy prices.
"We're working with countries, companies around the world to ensure the security of supply and to mitigate against price shocks," the official said.
The "contingency planning" includes negotiations with suppliers in North Africa and Asia to "temporarily surge gas output".
Liquid natural gas tankers have already started rerouting from Asia, bringing "a significant impact on the resilience of energy supply in Europe," according to the official.
The economic sanctions being prepared to respond to any Russian invasion of Ukraine would include previously unused restrictions on exports of high-tech US equipment, the official said.
"What we're talking about are sophisticated technologies that we design and produce," the official told reporters.
This would include artificial intelligence, quantum computing and aerospace technologies and would "hit Putin's strategic ambitions to industrialise his economy quite hard".
"These are sectors that Putin himself has championed, as the way forward for Russia to diversify its economy beyond oil and gas," the official said.
"And in many, many instances, if Russia wants to develop these sectors, it needs to import technologies and products that only we and our allies and partners produce."
History of using energy as geopolitical weapon
The Russian regime has a long history of denying or threatening to deny natural gas in winter to countries that defy its wishes.
Last October, Gazprom, Russia's oil and gas giant, began charging Moldova exorbitant prices for natural gas as leverage on unrelated geopolitical goals.
Gazprom officials proposed cheaper gas if Moldova agreed to back out of a free-trade agreement with the EU, shelved energy market reforms it had agreed to with Brussels, and joined the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), the Financial Times reported October 26, quoting anonymous sources familiar with the discussions.
In the same month, Moscow was accused in Europe of exacerbating an energy crisis on the continent that saw gas prices surpass records.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on October 22 accused Moscow of orchestrating Europe's energy crisis and urged the EU to work with Kyiv against Russian "gas aggression".
"There is a real gas aggression against the European Union," Zelenskyy told AFP in exclusive written comments, saying there was an "unprecedented need for joint efforts" in Europe and calling on Brussels to work with Kyiv on solutions.
Earlier winters saw similar or worse Russian behaviour affecting multiple countries in Europe.
Then-President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia accused the Kremlin of being behind two explosions on the Mozdok–Tbilisi natural gas pipeline in North Ossetia on January 22, 2006, suspending gas supply to his country.
Workers eventually repaired the pipeline. Georgia has since diversified its gas sources to include Azerbaijan.
Ukraine has suffered multiple cutoffs of Russian natural gas, including in 2014 and 2015. A January 2009 cutoff led to 18 European countries reporting partial or complete loss of Russian gas, which was supposed to pass through Ukraine.
We stand with Ukraine! Dying anaemic Russia is not going to make a move against Ukraine.
Reply32 Comment(s)
NATO is demanding that Russia withdraw troops from Crimea, Abkhazia, and Transnistria.
Reply32 Comment(s)
Russia has started issuing its passports in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and, by doing so, violated the Minsk protocol. So now Ukraine has every right to leave the agreement.
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I don't believe WW3 will happen. The mighty actors won't launch it over a small and backward player such as Russia.
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Russia consists mainly of the lands occupied by the Russians. They have every right to secede from fascist Russia. Every autonomous region of Russia needs a referendum on the matter.
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They did the right thing when they refused to buy expensive Russian natural gas in Ukraine. So now Russia can't blackmail Ukraine using gas. All European countries must follow suit. Europe has started buying more gas from Azerbaijan already, and it's possible to supply more Kazakh and Turkmen gas via Azerbaijan.
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These pigs must remember they can't down a Bayraktar drone with balalaikas, even if they manage to climb the tallest birch tree they can find in their swamps.
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Russian swine have never been warriors. They are hereditary servants and serfs. Russia has always waged wars by overwhelming enemies with the corpses of Russian soldiers. They used dead bodies of their troops as material for bridges, trench shelters, and dugouts. Russian cannon fodder is always the cheapest in stock.
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Ukraine can turn into the main sponsor of Russian cemeteries. Therefore, all the undertakers in Russia should be paying Ukraine a good cut.
Reply32 Comment(s)
The West has started supplying Ukraine with weapons, and modern ones at that. The Ukrainian army now has the second-largest stockpile of 'Javelins' in the world. England has sent its Javelin analogue, simplified and cheaper but well suited for urban warfare. One can launch it from a small room. If the run-down Russian army gets into Ukraine, it's going to lose all their tanks in the first two weeks.
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By the way, the court hearings on [the downed] Boeing is going full steam; there's an impressive body of evidence. Soon Russia will be held responsible because Russia downed the airliner.
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The "hawks" have finally prevailed in the USA; instead of punishing Russia with words, they want to use more harsh and drastic measures. After that, Russia started backing away. So either Putin was ousted, and a coup is going on, or Putin chickened out.
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Russia couldn't conquer Ukraine even in blissful 2014. Now that Russia is so obviously weakened while, on the contrary, Ukraine has gotten stronger, Russia can't do much. So it should sit it out.
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I'm an Uzbek, I hold nothing against Russia, but I believe the truth is on the Ukrainian side in this conflict. Russians must realise the occupation of Crimea and war against Ukraine was a provocation and mistake. The people of Russia have been dragged into this quagmire that will be hard to get out of.
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The Russians comically squealed, "We can repeat!" recently. Now is the perfect time to demonstrate their courage, but they could repeat nothing. The US has every right to walk over Putin and Russia. Well deserved.
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"Russia creates the impression it's a superpower! It makes nothing else."
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The dollar is 80 [rubles] while the euro is more than 90 after the statement by the US Embassy to Ukraine. All this happened after a short announcement made by an American official. Imagine what will transpire after the USA hits with its sanction bludgeon!
Reply32 Comment(s)
We need shrinks, not political analysts, to explain Russian behaviour.
ReplyPutin's Russia is the spitting image of a monkey with a hand grenade. So the West must be patient and cautious handling this delirious patient.
Reply32 Comment(s)
It would be funny if America decided to turn off all the smartphones and computers in Russia. We will stock up on popcorn. This show promises to be interesting.
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Despite all the Russian tantrums, Europe has been coping with the winter quite well, they are into the second half of it, and their gas reservoirs aren't empty. Replacements can always be found in a free, competitive market.
Reply32 Comment(s)
Russian efforts to get rid of the West are reminiscent of a bulb trying to disconnect itself from the power grid.
Reply32 Comment(s)
Russia acts like the proverbial butting cow with no horns.
Reply32 Comment(s)
Russian leadership needs to return back to Earth. They all went off to an imaginary war with NATO in 2014 and never came back, while the rest of the population is dumpster diving.
Reply32 Comment(s)
Dumb Russia has been coaxing the USA into war so stubbornly, and for so long, that now this cesspool will get everything they asked for. Collapse, poverty, being cut off from dollars and beat up with a balalaika.
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It seems everybody has got fed up with Moscow's energy blackmailing, and Europe has begun looking for a solution that bypasses Russia. They are starting to buy gas in Azerbaijan, Norway, the USA, and the UAE.
Reply32 Comment(s)
Russia needs a megadose of a sedative.
Reply32 Comment(s)
The USA has increased liquid gas shipments to the European market. Russia shot itself in the leg. However, these imbeciles are notorious for that.
Reply32 Comment(s)
Russia has outright mind-boggling hysteria, because Ukraine can live without expensive Russian gas. They are worried about the Ukrainian budget in Russia, those clowns )))
Reply32 Comment(s)
Ukraine has been living without Russian gas just fine for seven years, but Russia is hysterical about it.
ReplyWhat cheap gas? Gazprom used to sell it for $400, while Europe sold it for $200.
ReplySo the Russkies can go screw off.
32 Comment(s)
The Russian world has started to reek for whatever reason.
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