Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said that Russia will not have problems with new markets in the event of European countries refusing to supply energy resources.
"Today there is so much pressure on the European states that it cannot be ruled out that they may even take such a step - to refuse to supply oil and gas from Russia. This will be a disaster for the European economy. Of course, they will not be able to replace the volume of gas and oil that Russia supplies on time, in full, at fixed contractual prices, as a bona fide supplier," Matvienko told reporters on Wednesday.
"If they do, it will be their big headache and problem. I believe that we assume such a possibility, the government has developed appropriate measures. It is not only diversification of supplies to Asia, Latin America, China, India, and other countries; this is possible because after the oil crisis, the economies of many countries have started to recover, economic growth is taking shape, and the need for gas and oil is growing. Yes, it will not be easy, it takes time, logistics need to be thought over, technical preparations need to be made, but it's only a matter of time. I don't have any doubts, there will be markets," she added.
Matvienko also noticed that gas consumption in Russia is growing. "We have to develop gas chemistry, petrochemistry as quickly as possible now, use gas and oil inside the country for processing and supplying secondary resources to the markets. This is more profitable for any country than just supplying gas and oil. There are already a number of such projects," stressed the Speaker of the the Federation Council.
Last week the ambassadors of the European Union approved the fifth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes restrictions on individuals and financial institutions, as well as an embargo on imports of coal from Russia and supplies of high-tech goods.
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Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS