Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that certain Western countries are failing to pay on time for the delivery of Russian energy.
“Banks from most ‘unfriendly’ countries are delaying the transfer of payments,” the head of state said.
According to Putin, despite the calls to reduce energy supplies, Western nations are admitting that they cannot do without Russian energy resources. They are thus “driving up prices and destabilizing the market,” he said, warning that Moscow will redirect its energy eastward.
Western attempts to squeeze out energy supplies will inevitably affect the entire global economy, Putin said, adding that there’s no rational replacement for Russian gas in Europe right now.
“Initially, serious experts and analysts warned, and publicly said that an accelerated green transition would be impossible to implement in practice without great costs. This is how everything turned out in practice,” he said. “And now there is a wonderful reason to cover up their own miscalculations and blame everything on Russia.”