European countries should move together quickly to look beyond Russia for its oil and gas supplies, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said over the weekend that Washington is in “very active discussions” with European allies over energy sanctions on Russia in response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Appearing at a Downing Street press conference with his Canadian and Dutch counterparts, Johnson said a boycott of Russian oil and gas is “very much on the table.
“We have to consider how we can all move away as fast as possible from dependence, reliance, on Russian hydrocarbons, Russian oil, and gas,” he said.
But Johnson stressed the move away from Russian hydrocarbons has to be managed in a “step-by-step” manner.
“There are different dependencies in different countries, and we have to be mindful of that, and you can’t simply close down the use of oil and gas overnight, even from Russia.
“What we need to do is to make sure that we’re all moving in the same direction and we all share the same assumptions and that we accelerate that move. And I think that is what you’re going to see,” he said.
But he said there will be a “transitional period” during which countries “have to look for substitute supplies from elsewhere.”
The prime minister said the UK will consider using more of its own hydrocarbons to make up for the reduction in supply due to sanctions on Russia, and he will set out an energy supply strategy in the coming days.
“That doesn’t mean we are in any way abandoning our commitment to reducing CO2 but we have got to reflect the reality that there is a crunch on at the moment. We need to increase our self-reliance,” he said.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his country is prepared to consider “all possible sanctions” but they must not generate “unmanageable risks” to energy supply in Europe.
“We have to make sure to deleverage our dependency on Russian gas, on Russian oil, while acknowledging at the moment that the dependency is, to a certain extent, still there.”
Forcing companies to stop doing business with Russia now would have “enormous consequences,” he said. “It would basically undermine supply chains the world over, particularly in Europe. It would also have an impact on Ukraine itself.”
At the press conference, Johnson said the UK government is pledging another £175 million ($230.28 million) in aid for Ukraine to help it deal with a growing humanitarian crisis.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used the news conference to announce new sanctions on 10 individuals close to the Russian leadership, including former and current senior government officials, oligarchs, and supporters.
