(PresidentialHill.com)- As the United States was preparing the now-confirmed sanctions on all Russian oil and energy, Russia reportedly warned that it may cut off Germany and other European nations from its natural gas supply if the sanctions go ahead. Now that those sanctions are going into effect, Europe is in extreme danger of losing access to vital gas supplies.
According to reports, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned that the U.S. banning Russian oil exports would cause the cost of oil to skyrocket to as much as $300 per barrel and that Russia may respond by denying Europe access to the natural gas supplies it relies on from Russia. It would mean shutting down the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that provides Germany with most of its natural gas.
“It will be impossible to quickly find a replacement for Russian oil on the European market,” Novak said in an address on Russian state television. “It will take years and it will still be much more expensive for European customers.”
He warned that taking such action against Russia would hurt European consumers the most and that Russia has a right to take a “matching decision” and impose an embargo on gas pumping through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.
So far, however, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline has not been shut down…though, it could happen any day now.
Will Russia follow through on this, willingly hurting their own economy even further, to put pressure on the United States to reverse the sanctions?
