Ukraine: Putin's actions amount to ‘renewed invasion’ says PM
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It comes as tensions between Russia and the West continue to soar over dears of a “full-scale invasion” of Ukraine. Germany today announced that it will put a long-awaited gas project on ice, Nord Stream 2 (NS2), a response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reported build-up of nearly 200,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders. Now, there are fears that Russia could retaliate by slashing Europe’s gas, of which it supplies almost 40 percent.
But Mr Kwarteng stressed that the UK would not fare as badly as the EU.
He told Express.co.uk: “We have one of the most reliable and diverse energy systems in the world, with half our gas supply coming from within British territorial waters.
“All this means that, unlike other countries in Europe, we are in no way dependent on Russian gas supply.”
Instead, the large bulk of Britain’s gas imports come from Norway, a traditionally safe trading partner.
Meanwhile, the EU looks set to suffer from the impacts of rising prices as Mr Putin looks poised to slash the bloc’s supplies.
Danil Bochkov, from the Russian International Affairs Council, told Express.co.uk: “The impact will be substantial not only on Germany but on the whole EU since it could not diversify supplies that fast.
“But this is going to be more of a mid-term impact because NS2 has not been launched yet, so Berlin was not relying on its as a source of gas supply.”
But Britain is not in the clear, as lower supplies in Europe are likely to mean
soaring prices globally.
Mr Bochkov added: “The expectation of the NS2 launch which was expected to supply vast amounts of gas could stabilise market energy prices over time.
“Now, the gas and oil prices are most likely to keep climbing worldwide, because Germany and Europe would struggle hard to find a substitute supporter capable of delivering the same amount of gas. If it could at all.”
NS2 was set to transit gas from Russia to Germany, bypassing Ukraine and Poland on its route through the Baltic Sea.
Mr Putin has been pushing for its certification to be sped up, and was even accused of earlier withholding gas from Europe to accelerate the process.
But now that its certification has been suspended, the West looks braced for a furious backlash from the Kremlin.
Russia has already shown that it is willing to restrict gas from travelling into the bloc.
It has been diverting gas flowing through the Yamal-Europe pipeline to the East since December, a move that saw prices skyrocket to record highs that month.
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And while Britain is not reliant on Russian gas, it has still experienced the effects of the rising prices as it suffers from its own ongoing energy crisis.
After several energy suppliers went bust as they failed to cope with the rising price of global gas, bills were pushed up for households that had to switch suppliers.
And energy bills are set to soar further for millions of Britons, with the price cap (maximum tariff) rising to £2,000 in April, a 50 percent rise.
Mr Kwarteng told Express.co.uk: “Ultimately, gas is expensive and renewables are cheap. To protect consumers in the long term and to better insulate the UK from volatile global markets, we need to become more self-reliant and generate more clean power in the UK.
“Put simply, the more clean, cheap, and secure power we generate at home, the less exposed we will be too expensive gas prices set by global markets.”
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