Russia Monitor is a review of the most important events related to Russian internal and external security, as well as its foreign policies.
Date: 31 October 2022 Author: Grzegorz Kuczyński
Rosneft CEO Sechin Claims EU Gas Price Caps Unreasonable
A statement from the CEO of Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil company, at a business forum in Azerbaijan confirms that Western sanctions on Russian energy were simply a reasonable step. What Sechin told the meeting had little to do with reality, but depicted Moscow’s biggest nightmare of energy sanctions. Moscow has revived its longtime desire to drive a wedge between the European Union and the United States.
Europe’s refusal to supply energy resources from Russia puts 6.5–11.5 percent of Europe’s GDP and around 16 million jobs in danger, according to the CEO of Rosneft. Speaking on October 27 at an international economic forum in Baku, previously held in Italy’s Verona, Sechin said that any oil and gas price caps delivered a blow to the market while stripping countries of their right to claim resources. One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, oil chief Igor Sechin, has depicted a gloomy view of the economic situation in EU states. The metallurgy, chemical, pulp, and paper, as well as the agricultural industries, are among the key sectors of the European industry in crisis, he claimed. “The potential output reduction is projected at 20–45 percent for the chemical industry and 30–60 percent for metallurgy. In Europe, 70 percent of the capacities for the production of nitrogen fertilizers have already been suspended while aluminum production fell by 25 percent,” he added. “The United States has to fight to maintain its hegemony at any cost and it just cannot afford a defeat,” Sechin blamed the United States for the current situation. Europe is now a “number one victim of the U.S. policy” as its states are “no longer able to diversify energy supplies,” he claimed. Naturally, what Sechin said in Baku corroborates his vexation. If the EU is a victim of anyone, it suffers from a Russian policy. The situation now is conducive to diversifying energy supplies more than ever before while some European states are even forced to look for energy elsewhere––like Germany––as they are unable to buy energy commodities from Russia. EU proposals to cap Russian energy prices have indeed irked Sechin as this will deliver a blow to Russian businesses, including Rosneft. This explains why Sechin said at the core of that is to deprive sovereign states of their resources––as “right” countries, which are now short of them, need resources more than those little rightful ones.
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