Europe doomed by US to hunger, cold: Russian official

Europeans have been doomed to suffer hunger and cold to meet the United States hegemonic demands, warns Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.

The United States will “stop at nothing to cling to its power over the world as it throws under the bus the citizens’ welfare and the economies of European countries to achieve this end,” Volodin was quoted by RT on Friday as saying on social media.

Volodin noted that natural gas in the US costs $333 per 1,000 cubic meters. “At the same time, Washington sells it to Europe for a price which is 7.3 [times] higher, rendering the EU economy uncompetitive,” he wrote, adding that the eurozone’s annual inflation rate had hit a record 8.9 percent.

He said the Europeans' decision to sever economic ties with Russia “have been made under Washington’s pressure.”

European states are heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas to supply energy.

However, Russia's “special military operation” in Ukraine in late February prompted European states led by the US to cut ties with Russia, thus,  plunging their economies into a crisis.

Europeans decided to cut themselves off from Russian oil and gas, claiming Russian energy suppliers were unreliable.

Germany halted the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which was designed to double the flow of Russian gas heading directly to Germany, in response to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned shortly after Germany's ban on Russian energy that the move was "absolutely absurd", warning its consumers will face extreme hardships.

“The rise in energy prices may be unpredictable,” he insisted.

"I want to emphasize that the complete incompetence of European decision-makers due to ill-conceived policies and lack of strategic planning led to this result,” he explained.

Earlier this month, the European Union approved a plan that would see its member states reduce gas consumption by 15 percent in a bid to tackle the energy crisis.

SS