U.S.-EU statement: Russia is an unreliable supplier of energy to Europe
The United States of America announced that Russia is an unreliable supplier of energy to Europe, and it welcomed Finland’s contract to lease a floating LNG import terminal from a U.S. provider that will be operational before the end of this year.
A joint statement issued by the United States and the European Commission said: “Russia has demonstrated that it is unreliable supplier of energy to Europe through unjustified and unacceptable actions such as cutting off electricity and natural gas to Finland, halting natural gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria, and threatening similar actions against other European nations.”
The statement added: “efforts are underway to diversify supplies and reduce dependence on Russian gas across Europe from the Nordics to the Balkans, since 2020 Finland has been interconnected to Estonia via the Balticonnector, a project supported by the European Commission, which increases security of supply for Finland and the region.”
The statement of the United States and the European Commission stressed the urgency of taking decisive action to reduce energy imports from Russia. Together, we are partnering to address these challenges under our joint Task Force on Energy Security announced on March 25.
This step came after Russia announced that it would cut off natural gas supplies to Finland, because of its refusal to pay for it in the Russian currency.
It is noteworthy that this Russian move coincided with the submission of Finland and Sweden to join NATO.
