OREANDA-NEWS European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said she supports the imposition of EU sanctions against Russian natural gas.

She called the anti-Russian sanctions against "such things that could not have been thought of two and a half years ago" "impressive", and expressed the opinion that the EU should continue to impose restrictions.

"Now European companies still have the legal right to continue receiving Russian gas until sanctions prohibit it… I say today that "so far" such sanctions against Russian gas have not been adopted," she said, answering a question from journalists.

Simson also stated the need to "help Ukraine with reconstruction."

It is noteworthy that former Italian Prime Minister and ex-ECB head Mario Draghi recently prepared a report on the competitiveness of the European Union for the European Commission, in which he stated that the EU energy market, contrary to the Commission's optimistic statements about overcoming the energy crisis and successfully replacing Russian energy carriers, faces fundamental problems, a shortage of natural resources, and natural gas prices in the EU, it is four to five times higher than in the USA. He also pointed out that the upheavals of recent years, competition with China, the shifting interests of the United States and the loss of Russia as the main energy supplier to the EU have led to problems in the European economy that pose an "existential threat" to the community.
Russia has repeatedly stated that the West has made a serious mistake by refusing to buy hydrocarbons from the Russian Federation, it will fall into a new, stronger dependence due to higher prices. Moscow stated that those who refused would still buy more expensive through intermediaries and would buy Russian oil and gas.

The Russian Federation has also repeatedly stated that the country will cope with the sanctions pressure that the West began to exert on Russia several years ago and continues to strengthen. Moscow noted that the West does not have the courage to admit the failure of sanctions against the Russian Federation. There have been opinions in Western countries themselves that anti-Russian sanctions are ineffective. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that the policy of containing and weakening Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and sanctions have dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people.