Putin stresses EU announcing sanctions on Russian gas & oil for 'political reasons'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that European Union has been announcing sanctions against the Russian oil and gas for "absolutely political reasons" and "under pressure from their American overlords," Sputnik reported. He said that the EU has been introducing sanctions without considering their effect on Europe's collective economic competitiveness. The statement of Putin comes as the EU has been attempting to introduce the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes an embargo on Russian oil. 

Speaking at a meeting with officials on energy issues, Vladimir Putin said that imposing sanctions on Russian energy will result in Europe becoming the region with the "highest energy costs" in the world. Putin suggested that if the EU rejects Russian energy, there will rise in prices and added that some experts have warned that it would "irrevocably undermine the competitiveness of a significant part of European industry" which is already losing the competition to firms that are in other parts of the world, as per the news report. According to Putin, the sanctions which are being imposed by EU countries on the oil and gas sector would result in inflation. He stressed that EU nations instead of acknowledging their mistakes try to find the "guilty party in another place." 

Putin claims West forgetting 'foundations of elementary laws of economics'

Russian President said that EU's sanctions against Russia indicate that lawmakers and economists of Western countries have forgotten the "foundation of the elementary laws of economics or prefer to deliberately ignore them," as per the Sputnik report. Putin committed that Russia will make every effort to develop appropriate conditions for the work of domestic energy companies. It is pertinent to note here that ever since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, several EU nations have been imposing sanctions against Russia to pressurise Kremlin to end the war against Kyiv. 

Ukraine FM calls on EU nations to impose sanctions on Russia

Notably, the European Commission has proposed the sixth package of sanctions that includes a ban on oil imports from Russia. However, Hungary has opposed the EU's proposal to impose a ban on importing Russian oil. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who arrived in Brussels, for a meeting with the Foreign Ministers of the EU member states, said he will call on the countries to impose further sanctions on Russia, which must include an oil embargo. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Kuleba said that he will focus on further arms supplies and granting EU candidate status to Ukraine. 

Image: AP