Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that natural gas prices in Europe could surge ahead of the coming winter.
Putin, who traveled to India for the BRICS summit, told reporters in New Delhi that European gas prices could climb to as much as $1,500 per 1,000 cubic meters, the TASS news agency reported on the 11th.
Putin said Russia once supplied gas at $150 to $180 per 1,000 cubic meters but that Europe demanded a shift to a market-based pricing system, and that Moscow's acceptance of that demand ultimately led to the price spike. Prices now stand at about $1,000 or 1,000 euros, he added, and could go much higher.
European natural gas prices have indeed been climbing sharply, breaking above 80 euros per megawatt-hour for the first time in more than three years. With the war in Ukraine dragging on and gas facilities as far as 3,000 kilometers from the Russian border coming under attack day after day, concerns over energy supply have deepened across Europe. Analysts said Putin's remarks, coming against that backdrop, will add to inflationary pressure and anxiety in the European economy.
Putin also shifted blame for the war in Ukraine onto the West. He warned that a European deployment of troops to Ukraine would mean direct war with Russia.
Commenting on the far-right Alternative for Germany party finishing first in the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, Putin said everything happening in Europe is the result of structural errors committed by what he called Western globalist forces. The problem with the West, he said, is that it came to see itself as standing atop the world after the end of the Cold War and to believe it never makes mistakes.
Even so, Putin said Russia does not threaten European countries and has no intention of doing so, adding that no one is willing to consider that Russia has no reason whatsoever to clash with Europe.
