German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin is using energy as weapon, but his tactics are only bringing Western allies closer together in their support of Ukraine.
Scholz made the comments to the German parliament ahead of a European Union energy summit, the second meeting of the 27-member bloc in two weeks as they seek to lower energy prices, and work around divisions over how exactly to do so.
In his comments to parliament, Scholz said Russian’s efforts to choke off gas supplies to Europe, while conducting what he called “scorched Earth tactics” against Ukraine – targeting energy infrastructure ahead of the cold winter months – will back-fire and “only strengthen the determination and staying power of Ukraine and its partners.”
Looking ahead to the energy summit, Scholz warned against setting a cap on gas prices, a move supported by 15 EU member nations.
He argued,” A politically set price cap always creates the risk that producers will sell their gas elsewhere and that we Europeans will end up with less gas instead of more.”
Scholz suggested the EU coordinate closely with other gas consumers, such as Japan and Korea, so they do not find themselves competing, while negotiating with producers about setting appropriate price.
The German leader said he is convinced energy-producing allies such as the United States, Canada or Norway, “have an interest in ensuring that energy in Europe does not become unaffordable.”
Referencing an EU plan to begin training Ukrainian troops, which was announced Monday, Scholz said one of the training headquarters will be in Germany.
He said, by spring, “we will train a full brigade of up to 5,000 soldiers. In this way, we are underlining our willingness to participate permanently in building strong Ukrainian Armed Forces, hand in hand with our partners.”
Meanwhile, the EU energy summit is underway in Brussels. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is expected to address the 27 national leaders by video conference from Kyiv, is asking for continued help to get his nation through the winter.
Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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