Russian President Vladimir Putin warned to block all energy shipments to Europe if the EU goes ahead with a proposal to cap the price of Russian gas and suggested limiting a U.N.-brokered deal for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea.
On Wednesday, the European Commission proposed a set of measures, including a price cap on Russian gas, to rein in Europe’s soaring energy prices and punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
With natural gas and electricity prices hanging around record highs, European households will suffer skyrocketing heating bills over the upcoming harsh winter.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she had proposed a series of measures, including a price cap on gas imports.
“We are facing an extraordinary situation, because Russia is an unreliable supplier and is manipulating our energy markets,” she warned.
Meanwhile, in a confrontational speech to an economic summit in Russia’s Far East region, President Putin warned that he’d cut off all energy exports to any country that imposes a price ceiling of Russian gas, saying, “No gas, no oil, no coal, no fuel oil, nothing.”
The Russian state-owned company Gazprom decided at the last minute not to restart the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Europe following maintenance, claiming an engine oil leak at a compressor station, sending wholesale gas prices rising continuously.
