Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Europe is in a panic about how to spend the winter in light of the energy crisis.
"Energy prices are rising. Europe is worried about how it will spend this winter. The numbers are very high. The West is in a panic about what to do about those high numbers. I hope that this difficult situation will be settled through steps in the best possible way," the Turkish president said at a press conference in Zagreb broadcast by TRT.
Erdogan did not specify what steps could be taken to resolve the situation with rising energy prices.
Meanwhile, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday that the coming winter in Europe "will be cold," and the next winter will be "polar." He stressed that only timely purchase of Russian gas saved Serbia from a disaster and blackouts.
The energy crisis in the EU worsened in early July, when the first interruptions of gas supplies from Russia to several EU countries occurred, related in particular to problems with the maintenance of turbines for Nord Stream due to restrictions. The European Commission then called on EU countries to proactively prepare for a complete halt to Russian gas deliveries, and set in motion a plan to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15 percent for all member states between August 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS