- It would no longer be worth counting on Russian energy carriers. Now we are making the necessary decisions to become independent of energy resources from the Russian Federation in the long term, - said Scholz in an interview with Funke .
He also expressed hope that gas prices will return to normal, although he believes that one should not count on the pre-February price level. Recall that before February 24 of this year, Berlin purchased from Moscow about 40% of the volume of gas needed by Germany. After the start of the Russian special operation, Germany began to replace supplies from the Russian Federation. At the end of November, it became known about a multi-year contract for the supply of liquefied natural gas to Germany from Qatar.
At the same time, during the first ten months of 2022, European states purchased a record 17.8 billion cubic meters of LNG from Russia, increasing its imports by 42%. The main buyers were Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and France.