LOSING POWER

Russia Resorts to Desperate Threats to Cut Off Europe’s Gas Supply

The Kremlin is using whatever leverage it has left to prevent more economic sanctions.

Russia has lashed out with a threat to cut off Europe’s gas supply if Western allies push ahead with further sanctions. The U.S. has urged its European allies to ban Russian oil imports over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but the Kremlin said it would retaliate if any such move went ahead. Speaking on state television, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned that a ban on Russian oil would lead to “catastrophic consequences” for global energy prices, and said the Kremlin was prepared to “impose an embargo on gas pumping through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline,” which carries natural gas from Russia to Germany. Last month, Germany halted the certification of $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline in a previously unthinkable economic sanction against Russia.