Baltic Times: Putin’s threats spur gas independence discussions

Estonian Riigikogu member Sven Sester, who headed the Baltic Assembly energy market round-table meeting that took place in Klaipeda, said that the Baltic States aspire for independence from the Russian gas supply monopoly, reports Public Broadcasting. Sester said that representatives of all Baltic States that participated in the meeting stated that the dependence on Russian gas has to be drastically reduced because of security and economic reasons.

“Putin’s threats that the events in Ukraine can affect gas deliveries to European Union states show again that Russia is using gas as a political weapon. In reply, the Baltic States and the rest of Europe have to improve their energy security and reduce dependency on Russian energy channels. We have let the situation emerge that the European states are connected via an umbilical cord with Putin’s gas and corruption-smelling gas contracts,” said Sester.

He added that in 20 years energy consumption has doubled, and in the next 20 years it will probably increase by the same amount. It is more and more important to find alternatives to Russian gas.
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