President Vladimir Putin has warned that Europe “will keep freezing” if the European Union goes ahead with the proposed price limit on Russian energy.
“Those who are trying to impose something on us are in no position today to dictate their will,” Putin said, taunting the European leaders on Thursday. “They should come to their senses.”
The Russian leader’s chilling warning came after the EU announced Wednesday that it was planning to put a cap on the price of Russian gas. The cost of electricity and heating has skyrocketed across Europe as Russia cuts gas and oil supplies to the continent.
Confident in Russian stranglehold on the European energy market, Putin joked that he could make Europe freeze this winter if they decided to lower his revenue.
Referring to a Russian fairy tale in which the wily fox lets the villainous wolf’s tail freeze, he added: “We would only have one thing left to do: as in the famous Russian fairy tale, we would sentence the wolf’s tail to be frozen.”
The London-based Daily Telegraph reported the Russian leader’s threats:
Vladimir Putin has threatened to “freeze” Europe with a total shutdown of energy supplies if Brussels presses ahead with a price cap on Russian gas.In a fiery speech delivered in Vladivostok, Russia’s president warned that Europeans would face a bleak winter if the Kremlin stopped deliveries to the Continent.Speaking at an economic conference, he said: “We will not supply anything at all if it is contrary to our interests.“No gas, no oil, no coal, no fuel oil, nothing.”The European Commission is to ask countries to approve a broad cap on the price of Russian gas alongside mandatory cuts in electricity use, and a tax on oil and gas companies.
The price of electricity and heating is at an all-time high in Europe as Russia slashes gas and oil supply amid rising household and industrial demand ahead of the winter.
As European cities witness mass demonstrations against rising energy prices, the EU and European governments are looking for ways to lower electricity and heating costs.
To make things worse, Russia permanently shut down Nord Stream 1, the leading natural gas pipeline to Europe, demanding the lifting of sanctions imposed in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. “Russia switches off Europe’s main gas pipeline until sanctions are lifted,” the UK’s Financial Times reported Tuesday.
The dwindling Russian energy supply has sent already high prices spiraling even higher. As the BBC noted ahead of the Nord Stream 1 shutdown, “European gas prices are now about 10 times higher than their average level over the past decade.”
The European leaders have reacted to this by threatening to put a cap on Russian gas revenue. “The European Union proposed a price cap on Russian gas on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin threatened to cut off all energy supplies if it took such a step, raising the risk of rationing in some of the world’s richest countries this winter,” Reuters reported.
Germany is witnessing the rise of a new anti-establishment movement in the eastern part of the country.
On Monday, thousands gathered in the eastern German city of Leipzig to protest against the surging living cost and fuel prices. “Thousand of right- and left-wing demonstrators protested in inner city Leipzig against energy and social policies in the federal government,” the German weekly Der Focus reported.
The mainstream media fears that the protests in the eastern part of Germany, basting of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, could become a weekly feature, giving birth to a new populist movement.
In the 1980s, the weekly “Monday Marches” triggered mass unrest, which led to the fall of the Communist regime in East Germany. PEGIDA, the populist German movement against mass migration, also arose from these weekly marches in early 2014.
“Protesters from Germany’s left and the right have called for regular Monday protests against the rising cost of living. These evoke the peaceful revolution in East Germany but also of recent anti-immigrant rallies,” the German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle complained Monday.
Popular unrests are brewing across Europe. On Saturday, an estimated 70,000 demonstrators held an anti-government and anti-EU protest in Prague, the Czech capital. The organizers, comprised of left- and right-wing groups, called it the “Czech Republic First” demonstration, a reference to President Donald Trump’s “America First” slogan.
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