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Lavrov accuses the United States of trying to "stoke a row" between Russia and the European Union over gas shipments

Lavrov accuses the United States of trying to “stoke a row” between Russia and the European Union over gas shipments

MADRID, October 8 (European press) –

The Russian government on Friday accused the United States of trying to “spark discord” between Moscow and the European Union over gas shipments, amid rising prices in recent weeks.

“The United States openly declares that cooperation with Russia is contrary to the interests of energy security in Europe. They want to sow discord between us and reduce our interdependence,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Thus, he noted that the European Union is 35 percent dependent on Russian gas, and emphasized that Moscow “also depends to a large extent on those who buy that gas.” “It is their gas pipelines, we cannot change their address,” the Russian news agency Sputnik collected.

Therefore, Lavrov stressed that Russia and the European Union should avoid the politicization of gas and the belief that the population of the country and the bloc “can really suffer from the shortcomings of the corresponding governments and companies in matters of energy, energy supply and energy security in general. .

In this sense, he criticized that Washington “exercised great pressure” on Brussels, especially during Donald Trump’s presidency of the White House, before saying that his administration “directly forced it to abandon Russian gas that arrives through it. He proposed building terminals for LNG shipments.” from the United States “.

The Russian Foreign Minister also indicated that Moscow “is ready to help Europe overcome this crisis.” “I would like to mention once again that Gazprom continues to supply gas to Europe under long-term contracts,” he estimated.

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He stressed that “Gazprom not only fulfills all its commitments, but exaggeratesly fulfills them”, emphasizing the importance of “the pressure exerted by the United States in recent years” on the European Union, including Germany, “which they undertook in order to reject Buying Russian gas by pipeline and building US LNG terminals.

Lavrov’s words came two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed low temperatures last winter and the “mistakes” of the European Union, opening the crisis with rising energy prices, in an attempt to de-mark Russia from chained records. different markets.