The European Union is in for a tough winter, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said during The Atlantic Festival conference.

“There has been a sharp jump in energy prices in Europe, and they will have a very hard time in winter.

Yes, the consequences have affected us, but we are not in such a vulnerable position as they are.

The winter will be hard for them, ”Yellen stated.

The US is working closely with the Europeans to help them find alternative sources of supplies, she said.

The head of the US Treasury recalled that already in early December, Europe, which now imports about 3 million barrels of crude and refined oil per day, will stop most of these purchases.

“In addition, both in the European Union and through the G7, we are introducing a ban on the provision of any services related to the transportation of Russian oil by sea, be it insurance, trade finance or mediation.

At the moment, 90% of the insurance services that are required are used to transport oil by sea, are provided by the UK and the EU, ”said Yellen.

Earlier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also said that the EU has a difficult winter ahead.

“We are in for a harsh winter, but we know why we must pay the price.

This is a matter of confronting democracy and autocracy,” she said in an interview with CNN.

The head of the EC added that the EU continues to work to reduce dependence on Russian energy.

At the same time, Hungary has already stated that they see no rational reasons to pursue a new package of anti-Russian sanctions, "especially when it comes to energy."

This was announced by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, Peter Szijjarto, to journalists.

According to him, for Budapest, this is a “clear red line”.

“Of course, if there is a project, we will take part in the discussions, but we will not give our consent to anything that will be contrary to our national interests,” TASS quotes the Hungarian minister.

According to Szijjártó, the European economy is "moving towards a recession."

  • European Commission

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  • © Monasse Thierry / ANDBZ / Abaca / Sipa

"The crisis is only growing"

At the same time, Moscow believes that it was the anti-Russian measures taken by it that led to the energy crisis in the EU.

According to the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, the energy markets are “feverish” mainly in Europe.

“These anti-Russian measures taken here led to a very, very deep crisis.

They led to a situation where Europeans, and in many respects from the United States, buy liquefied gas for big money, completely unjustified money.

US companies are getting richer, while European taxpayers are getting poorer,” Peskov said.

In turn, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, in an interview with Pavel Zarubin on the Russia 1 TV channel, drew attention to the fact that the energy crisis in Europe is only getting worse.

“Bills are coming in for utilities, for gas, that consumers just can’t pay, this crisis is only getting worse,” Novak said.

According to the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, stocks in European vaults will only last until February 2023.

According to The Washington Post, on the eve of winter in Europe there is not even enough firewood, which began to be stolen, in particular, from truck platforms.

At the same time, according to Bloomberg with reference to the draft document, the European Commission next week will propose a €565 billion plan to combat the energy crisis, which includes the elimination of dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

According to this document, by 2027 the European Union, in particular, intends to install solar panels on the roofs of all commercial and public buildings.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the energy crisis in the EU countries is most beneficial to Washington, as high gas prices are forcing European companies to move their capacities to the US, where energy prices are more stable.

In particular, we are talking about companies involved in the production of steel, fertilizers and other goods.

"The economy has failed"

According to RISS senior expert Ivan Bazhenov, Washington, which has been pushing the EU for anti-Russian sanctions in the energy sector all this time, "in fact, framed Europe."

“Now the US has finally acknowledged that the European Union is in for a tough winter.

Exactly the same thing Russia kept saying all the time, as well as the fact that Europe will not have the opportunity in the short term to increase gas supplies without the participation of the Russian Federation.

Washington has become the main beneficiary of the anti-Russian sanctions policy that hit the energy sector, industry and the EU financial market, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

  • Gas station.

    Warsaw Poland

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Now, due to the reduction of Russian energy imports, the EU is really in for difficult times, Bazhenov states.

“European industry will face enormous problems, because with such high energy prices, it will no longer be competitive.

We are talking primarily about chemical processing plants and the automotive industry.

Against this background, many European manufacturers will be forced to either completely stop production or partially stop it, ”the analyst believes.

According to Bazhenov, the actions of Brussels, which does not take into account the interests of EU citizens, follow in the wake of American policy.

“But it is important to understand that this is completely contrary to the interests of European consumers.

We see that Hungary is quite resolute, it is not ready to take measures to the detriment of the national economy and will block EU anti-Russian sanctions packages, ”the expert noted.

He also predicts that the actions that the EU and the G7 countries intend to take to impose restrictions on the purchase of Russian oil will be ineffective.

“In December, let's say Western countries agree on a price ceiling, but how can they force China and India to comply with such limits?

There are no real incentives for this.

But it is Beijing and New Delhi that are now the main buyers of Russian oil.

In addition, there are no real tools to control the purchase of oil products by third parties, and it is extremely difficult to create them.

At the same time, the Russian Federation can form its own system of insurance companies, including with the involvement of firms from friendly countries,” the analyst said.

Bazhenov believes that because of the anti-Russian innovations among the EU countries, Germany will be the first to suffer.

“Problems are growing, the EU is approaching a recession.

In Germany, due to the important role of industry in the economy, destructive processes will be most pronounced, ”the expert said.

It is worth noting that in Germany, producers of fresh and frozen products have already warned about the possibility of stopping the production of the food industry due to high energy prices.

The newspaper Die Welt writes about this with reference to an open letter from industry representatives, which is addressed, among other things, to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

According to this document, Germany is experiencing the “worst crisis” since the end of World War II.

In addition, according to Bloomberg, the German automaker Volkswagen AG may close European plants, including in Germany, and move production outside the EU if gas supply difficulties persist.

As Vyacheslav Kulagin, director of the Center for the Study of World Energy Markets at the Institute for Energy Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted, the fact that Europe has big problems ahead is becoming more and more obvious.

“Even now there is a shortage of gas, coal and oil.

The deficit in the energy market arose solely because of anti-Russian sanctions.

Europe is facing a severe economic downturn.

Politics has won, and the economy has lost, in terms of the actions of Brussels, as well as its Western allies.

If it were not for the political factor, which now plays a key role in the West, the cold snap could have a sobering effect on the EU, ”he emphasized in a conversation with RT.

According to Kulagin, the European Union "obviously did not fully calculate its actions to limit the supply of Russian energy resources."

“And the consequences of such decisions are disentangled primarily by consumers.

European bureaucrats prefer to speak and act first, and only after that think,” the analyst said.

However, judging by how the situation around anti-Russian sanctions in the energy sector is developing, in the short term, it is not necessary to expect that the restrictions will be weakened, the expert added.

“Obviously, disunity will become more and more pronounced in the European Union.

It is quite possible that most of the EU countries will come out in favor of normalizing economic ties with Russia.

Within the European Union, protest moods will certainly intensify.

However, one should not expect rational decisions in the field of energy from Brussels in the near future," Kulagin concluded.