Rutte said the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Canada were ready to consider “all possible sanctions” to put pressure on Russia. But, according to the prime minister, the “sad reality” is that Europe is highly dependent on Russian energy. “If we force European companies to stop doing that, that will have dire consequences.”
Europe gets about a third of its gas and a quarter of its oil from Russia. Rutte believes that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine underscores that this dependence must be reduced “significantly”. The main focus should be on making the energy supply more sustainable. “But this takes time.”
Unprecedented hit
Oil and gas are the main sources of income for Russia. The boycott will deal an unprecedented blow to the country’s economy and public finances. US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier that the United States was considering such a ban on Russian energy imports.
Johnson announced tens of millions of pounds in additional aid to Ukraine, bringing the total British aid package so far to 400 million pounds.
Trudeau said his government is imposing sanctions on 10 more oligarchs. The Canadian prime minister said the names of the targets came from a list provided by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. On top of all the sanctions, we announced huge tariffs on Russian and Belarusian products.
