NATO ‘Concerned’ About Europe’s Reliance on Russian Gas

The EU imports about a third of its natural gas from Russia

On Sunday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance is “concerned” with the European Union’s reliance on Russia for natural gas imports amid Western claims that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine.

“We are concerned about the energy situation in Europe because it demonstrates the vulnerability of being too dependent on one supplier of natural gas and that’s the reason why NATO allies agree that we need to work and focus on diversification of supplies,” Stoltenberg said.

The EU relies on Russia for about a third of its natural gas supply. This fact complicates Washington’s plans to potentially impose crippling sanctions on Russia that would aim to isolate the country from the global financial system. The US is in talks with Gulf countries to divert gas to Europe in the event of sanctions or a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Over the past few months, there have been rumors that Russian President Vladimir Putin might cut Europe’s gas supplies off. But that would be detrimental to Russia’s economy, which relies on energy exports. Even President Biden recognized this in comments during a recent press conference.

“Everybody talks about how Russia has control over the energy supply that Europe absorbs … I don’t see that as a one-way street. They go ahead and cut it off — it’s like my mother used to say: ‘You bite your nose off to spite your face,'” he said. “It’s not like they have all these wonderful choices out there.”

The fact that Russia and the EU rely on trading with each other so much makes war in Eastern Europe less likely. Germany and Russia are looking to boost their trade relationship through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.