ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Russia had cut off gas supplies to Europe because of Western sanctions, adding that the latter was “(reaping) what it (had) ) sown”.
Fears of gas shortages and rationing in the European Union this winter were rekindled on Friday after Moscow decided to shut down the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which supplies Europe.
“Europe is reaping what it sowed,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters, adding that Western sanctions, imposed on Moscow over the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, had pushed the Russian president to use energy resources as leverage.
“(Vladimir) Putin uses all the means and all the weapons at his disposal, and the most formidable of them is natural gas. Unfortunately – and this is not, in our opinion, something desirable – this is what is happening in Europe”, explained the Turkish president.
“I think Europe is going to face serious problems this winter. We don’t have such problems,” added Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey criticized the Moscow-led invasion and supplied arms to Kyiv, while refusing to impose sanctions on Russia.
Ankara justified its refusal because of the economic ties that Turkey, bordered to the north by the Black Sea, has with Russia and Ukraine, and says it is focusing on its mediation efforts.
(Report Ali Kucukgocmen; French version Camille Raynaud, edited by Sophie Louet)
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