Unacceptable that Russian energy is returning to EU 'through back door' - von der Leyen
The return of Russian energy to the European market is unacceptable, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, commenting on Trump's statement on the need to stop buying fuel from Russia.
"Well, President Trump is right. It is unacceptable that Russian fossil fuels are coming back through the back door. Just one number: we have reduced the use of Russian fossil fuels in Europe by 80 percent, zero coal from Russia, for example, only 3 percent of oil from Russia. So it has really been reduced dramatically. But I see that LNG is coming through the back door. That is why we have just proposed to impose sanctions on LNG coming to European markets from Russia," von der Leyen said in an interview with CNN.
She recalled that in 2022, when Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Europe was indeed hugely dependent on Russian gas.
"Putin cut off our gas. We had a huge energy crisis. We diversified our supplies to other countries and friends. We invested massively in renewables and nuclear power, so today we are almost free of Russian fossil fuels, and it is right that we must finish this work, we must get rid of Russian fossil fuels, because they only fill the Russian military coffers," von der Leyen stressed. "Some European Union member states are still using LNG or Russian oil, and here we have, as I said, adopted a sanctions package that makes it very clear that in a few months they must get rid of LNG, because it is subject to sanctions," she added.
