Nato has concerns over Europe’s energy security

Veterans of the Ukrainian National Guard Azov battalion conduct military exercises for civilians amid threat of Russian invasion in Kyiv, Ukraine, yesterday. (Reuters)

Europe needs to diversify its energy supplies, the head of Nato said yesterday, as Britain warned it was “highly likely” that Russia, the continent’s biggest natural gas supplier, was looking to invade Ukraine.Russia has massed some 120,000 troops near its neighbour and demanded the western defence alliance pull back troops and weapons from eastern Europe and bar Ukraine, a former Soviet state, from ever joining the Western defence alliance.US officials said on Saturday Russia’s military buildup had been expanded to include supplies to treat casualties of any conflict. Across the border in Ukraine, locals trained as army reservists as the government scrambled to prepare.In a sign of the tensions, Canada said yesterday it was temporarily withdrawing non-essential personnel from its embassy in Ukraine but added that the embassy would remain open.The United States, which has threatened Russia with major new sanctions if it invades Ukraine, has said it is waiting to hear back from Moscow. It says Nato will not withdraw from eastern Europe or bar Ukraine from joining Nato, but it is prepared to discuss topics such as arms control and confidence-building measures.US senators are very close to agreeing on sanctions legislation, the two leading lawmakers working on the bill said yesterday. Measures include targeting the most significant Russian banks and Russian sovereign debt as well as offering more lethal assistance to Ukraine.Some of the sanctions in the bill could take effect before any invasion because of what Russia has already done, said US Senators Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and James Risch, the panel’s top Republican. Menendez pointed to cyberattacks on Ukraine, false flag operations and efforts to undermine the Ukrainian government internally.Washington has spent weeks trying to build agreement with European partners on a strong sanctions package, but the issue is divisive, with Germany urging “prudence”. The European Union depends on Russia for around a third of its gas supplies and any interruption would exacerbate an existing energy crisis caused by a shortage.“We are concerned about the energy situation in Europe because it demonstrates the vulnerability of being too dependent on one supplier of natural gas and that’s the reason why Nato allies agree that we need to work and focus on diversification of supplies,” Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.Britain said yesterday it would expand the scope of its own possible sanctions in legislation this week to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin.“We think it’s highly likely that he is looking to invade Ukraine. That is why we’re doing all we can through deterrence and diplomacy, to urge him to desist,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told BBC television.Truss, who is due to visit both Ukraine and Russia in the next two weeks, told Sky News the legislation would enable Britain to hit a much wider variety of targets “so there can be nobody who thinks that they will be immune to those sanctions”.Asked if the new powers could include the ability to seize property in London, Truss said: “Nothing is off the table.”The Center for American Progress, a US think tank, has said Britain would face a challenge uprooting wealthy Russians with Kremlin links from London given close ties “between Russian money and the United Kingdom’s ruling conservative party, the press, and its real estate and financial industry”.Asked about this, Truss said: “There’s a real threat here to freedom and democracy in Europe. And that is more important than short-term economic gains, both for the United Kingdom but also for our European allies.”