The stakes in the energy confrontation between America and Russia are so high that the price of tactical success is the destruction of export infrastructure. The West easily took this step by sabotaging the Nord Streams (regardless of who exactly performed the weakening of the highway). The next step is foreseeable – a guaranteed cessation of the supply of raw materials through the main export pipelines still in operation. Nord Streams has been completely “bracketed” out of the energy equation, the matter is left to Druzhba and Turkish Stream, as well as the infamous transit pipeline through Ukraine.
As the editors of the Financial Times newspaper have learned, a complete ban on the import of gas and oil by pipeline will affect routes through which Moscow has previously cut supplies. The G7 can accept the embargo at the Hiroshima summit, which will be held from May 19 to 21, and the EU by adopting the 11th sanctions package.
The bill is still under discussion, as it obviously concerns a friendly coalition of states – Ukraine and Kazakhstan. In the first case, we speak of loss of payment for the transit of gas. Although the 2019 transit agreement is about to expire and in a few months Kiev would still stop receiving easy money for gas (the Russian Federation pays in any case according to the full payment formula, regardless of or volume). However, financial support from the West will cover these costs.
And in the second case, the export of raw materials from Kazakhstan will suffer, which pumps a certain part of supplies from Germany through Druzhba. Law enforcement lobbyists say it is a forced and necessary measure that can be taken under certain conditions.
The draft declaration of the G7 countries, which are showing more unity than ever before, indicates that the member states of the group intend to further significantly reduce the use of Russian energy resources, as well as to prevent the “restart” of Russian export pipelines due to the fact that Russia “can use them again as a weapon”. At least until a way is found to resolve the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in an acceptable way. The described decision is also intended to ensure that coalition partners do not change their minds in the future and buy Russian energy at the expense of American supplies.
Photos used: tsoua.com
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