Trump clarifies on the measures needed to end Putin's aggression in Ukraine conflict
In a significant development, President Donald Trump called upon European Union (EU) countries to reduce or completely stop their dependence on Russian energy sources during a press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Thursday, September 18. This announcement came with the threat of new US sanctions against Russia, contingent upon a full EU exit from Russian oil and gas imports.
The European Commission has already been working on this energy transition, with Ursula von der Leyen announcing a plan to accelerate it for the EU as a whole. However, no specific individual countries were named by Trump in his statement.
The UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, weighed in on the situation, expressing concern about several European countries' over-reliance on Russian energy resources. He suggested that Britain should work more closely with European partners to address these dependencies. Starmer also noted that Britain is not dependent on Russian energy, but some European countries might need to reassess their approach to energy.
The European Commission has presented a roadmap for a full stop of Russian gas imports by the end of 2027 and a minimization of Russian oil imports in the spring. This roadmap, however, has faced opposition from Hungary and Slovakia.
Trump believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin 'won't have a choice' but to get out of the war in Ukraine under the given circumstances. He stated that if the price of Russian oil drops due to the EU's exit from Russian energy imports, Putin will be forced to end the conflict.
In a related development, Trump announced his readiness to impose serious sanctions against Russia on September 13, with the condition that all NATO countries stop buying Russian oil. This statement follows an article titled 'Trump on Putin: 'He let me down'' published earlier.
Starmer, in his comments, emphasised the need for closer cooperation among European partners to address energy dependencies and the impact of the Ukraine conflict. The implications of this call for action and the EU's response will be closely watched in the coming months.
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