EU plans to give its members the power to halt Russian gas imports will fail, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says
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Brussels is reportedly working on legislation allowing member states to independently ban Russian fuel
EU plans to authorize member states to individually block imports of Russian gas will fail, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
“This is just one more attempt to create a pseudo-legal scheme to damage our country’s economy,” Zakharova said at the news briefing on Tuesday, highlighting that the measure won’t succeed.
“The fact is that most of the anti-Russian measures taken by the EU, including in the energy sector, boomerang on their initiators,” she added.
Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported, citing draft legislation, that the bloc was poised to give its 27 member states the right to halt gas imports from Russia and Belarus. The measure will reportedly give EU nations the power to “partially or, where justified, completely limit” or block Russian and Belarusian companies from buying capacity in European pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.
According to Zakharova, such a discriminatory measure will only lead to a quick redirection of Russian gas supplies towards emerging markets, as global supply of energy, including LNG, is limited, while demand from the Asia-Pacific region is rapidly growing.
“And in the case of LNG, the scenario with supplies reorientation seems to be the most realistic due to high mobility of the super chilled fuel,” she said.
READ MORE: EU may allow member states to ban Russian gas – FT
The diplomat added that Russia is not planning to drop large-scale plans related to LNG projects with the development of appropriate infrastructure seen as one of top priorities in the energy sector.
The diplomat noted that Russia is going to increase annual LNG production from the current 33 to 100 million tons per year, while pre-arranged volume of investments into the the sector exceeds 6 trillion rubles ($66 billion).
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