Sunday, July 23, 2017

Europe Warns The U.S. On Imposing New Sanctions On Russia



Reuters: EU sounds alarm, urges U.S. to coordinate on Russia sanctions

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union sounded an alarm on Saturday about moves in the U.S. Congress to step up U.S. sanctions on Russia, urging Washington to keep coordinating with its G7 partners and warning of unintended consequences.

In a statement by a spokeswoman after Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress reached a deal that could see new legislation pass, the European Commission warned of possibly "wide and indiscriminate" "unintended consequences", notably on the EU's efforts to diversify energy sources away from Russia.

Germany has already warned of possible retaliation if the United States moves to sanction German firms involved with building a new Baltic pipeline for Russian gas.

EU diplomats are concerned that a German-U.S. row over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being built by Russia's state-owned Gazprom could complicate efforts in Brussels to forge an EU consensus on negotiating with Russia over the project.

Read more ....

Update #1: EU warns the US against unilateral tightening of Russia sanctions - Reuters -- RBTH/TASS
Update #2: EU "Sounds Alarm" Over New US Sanctions On Russia; Germany Threatens Retaliation -- Zero Hedge

WNU Editor: Germany warned last month that they would retaliate if these U.S. sanctions would be imposed .... A Trade War Between The U.S. And Germany Over Russian Sanctions? (June 16, 2017). Even accusing Washington of ulterior motives .... that sanctioning Russian energy companies that would force Europeans to buy from U.S. suppliers .... U.S., Russia Vie For European Gas Dominance (OilPrice.com). As for the White House response from this Congressional agreement on new Russian sanctions .... their message is not clear yet .... White House offers muddled message on Russia sanctions legislation (Washington Post)

Update #3: White House Signals Acceptance of Russia Sanctions Bill (NYT).

7 comments:

RussInSoCal said...

Seems Europe would rather do business with a oligarch who might just shut the valves next winter rather than buying from the US.

Putin has just been given a whole lot more leverage in his dealings with old Europe.

Unknown said...

Will Mueller investigate Merkel now?

Jay Farquharson said...

Europe doesn't have the infrastructure set up for oil and gas imports from the US,

and the US shale oil and gas has only recently put the US in the position to be a major exporter.

It takes a long time to "switch" energy partners, when your infrastructure is set up for pipelines, not tankers.

Unknown said...

All it takes is an LNG berth.

Unknown said...

And Jay did not read what he linked.

Laughing my OSSOF!

Jay Farquharson said...

LMFAO,

A so called "engineer", who can't do simple math,

Dividing the EU's annual consumption of Natural Gas, by the annual global production of LNG, ( let alone the US's),

And is completely clueless as to what a diliquidification plant is,

LMFAO,

No wonder the US is so fucked when so called "engineers" engage in magical thinking,

LMFAO

Unknown said...

Europe gets there LNG from various sources. A big one is Norway at about 23%; Russia provides about 18% per the article you linked.

18% is replaceable.

Herr Merkel could put the nukes back online. The German STASI could allow fracking, etc