Putin Threatens To Turn Off The Gas

By Guest Column Dr. Benny Peiser —— Bio and Archives April 11, 2014

Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us

President Vladimir Putin threatened the “extreme measure” on Thursday of cutting off Russian gas for Ukraine unless the country pays in advance for all its supplies. In a stark letter to 18 world leaders, Mr Putin acknowledged that, in such a “critical situation”, gas deliveries to the European Union would also be jeopardised. Mr Putin’s threat suggests that Russia is preparing to use its control of gas supplies to escalate the pressure on Ukraine and the country’s European allies. -- David Blair and Emily Gosden, The Daily Telegraph, 11 April 2014

Ukraine’s Western-backed leaders scrambled on Friday to find new sources of energy after Russia hiked its gas price by 80 percent in response to the overthrow of Kiev’s pro-Kremlin regime. Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan called Russia’s new price “political” and vowed to explore solutions that included a heavier reliance on coal — a polluting source of energy whose consumption has imperilled the air quality of nations such as China. “We are now reviewing our electricity and fuel balance for 2014 with a view of using as much domestic coal as possible at the expense of natural gas,” Prodan told a cabinet meeting in comments posted on the government website. --Agence France Presse, 5 April 2015 Ever since Russian forces took hold of Crimea last month, the British prime minister has been leading a chorus of conservative politicians and energy executives in a refrain they believe will spark a shale gas revolution in Europe: Frack, baby, frack. The push for a European boom in fracking has been underway for years, but it has taken on new urgency in recent weeks as fears grow of a revival of the Cold War. With Europe leaning on Russia for a third of its natural gas needs, the continent’s leaders say they need to develop their own energy sources — and fast. --Griff Witte and Anthony Faiola, The Washington Post, 8 April 2014

At its worst, the gas war could then turn into a hot war. Energy security must be the main issue at the June EU summit, top of the in-tray for the European Commission and be part of the deliberations at the Nato summit in September. That means building more storage facilities, investing in liquefied natural gas terminals, developing shale gas and opening up supplies from the US. Mr Putin wants to exact a price for our support for an intact Ukraine. He needs to understand that his unacceptable behaviour carries an even higher price. --Editorial, The Times, 11 April 2014 Europe is stitching together a patchwork of measures that could reduce its natural gas imports from Russia by over a quarter by the end of the decade as a result of the Ukraine crisis, halting Moscow’s tightening grip over the region’s energy. The crisis in Ukraine has shaken policymakers awake across Europe’s capitals, and several emergency meetings over energy security have been held in the past weeks. --Henning Gloystein, Reuters, 11 April 2014 Carbon dioxide levels in Germany have been increasing in the last three years despite the government spending nearly $140 billion (100 billion euros) on a green energy since 2005. What’s causing the rise in carbon dioxide emissions? Coal power, according to Die Zeit. The newspaper writes that “CO2 emissions continue to rise as more and more coal and lignite power stations” are brought online and natural gas plants remain uneconomical to operate. --Michael Bastasch, The Daily Caller, 10 April 2014 Renewable energy subsidies that helped spur Europe’s €48-billion-a-year clean energy industry are to be phased out across the continent, under new market-friendly state aid rules announced by the European Commission Wednesday. Under the new rules, renewable energy subsidies will have to be replaced by market-based mechanisms for all but the smallest of clean electricity generators by 2017, following a pilot phase that will start next year. --EurActiv, 10 April 2014