Days after Russia cut off the natural gas supply to Nato members Poland and Bulgaria, US President Joe Biden said on Friday, “We will not let Russia intimidate or blackmail their way out of sanctions.”
Biden tweeted, “Yesterday, Russia threatened two of our allies with a cut off of energy supplies. Let me be clear: We will not let Russia intimidate or blackmail their way out of sanctions. And we will not allow them to use their oil to avoid consequences for their aggression.”
Yesterday, Russia threatened two of our allies with a cut off of energy supplies.
Let me be clear: We will not let Russia intimidate or blackmail their way out of sanctions. And we will not allow them to use their oil to avoid consequences for their aggression.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 29, 2022
The US President said that Washington is working with other nations to help their “European allies threatened by Russia with gas blackmail.”
The gas cutoff came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “unfriendly” countries would need to start paying for gas in rubles, Russia’s currency, which Bulgaria and Poland refused to do.
On Wednesday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Russian energy giant Gazprom’s decision to suspend gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland is yet another attempt at blackmail.
“The announcement by Gazprom that it is unilaterally stopping delivery of gas to customers in Europe is yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail. This is unjustified and unacceptable. And it shows once again the unreliability of Russia as a gas supplier,” von der Leyen had said in a statement.
(With inputs from ANI)