Russian leader Putin warns Belarus over gas threat to EU

As a migrant crisis on the Belarus-EU border continued to simmer, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a recent threat from his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko against Russia-EU gas supplies could hurt ties between Minsk and Moscow.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has expressed disapproval of a threat by Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko to cut off Russian gas supplies to the European Union.

Russia has distanced itself from Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s threats to halt the flow of Russian gas across the country to Poland and Germany, but has stopped far short of discouragement.

What people are saying?

Stanley Bill It’s hard to exaggerate the baseness of Lukashenko’s actions on Poland’s border, and he deserves to pay a high price. But responses require foresight due to gas and the Russian factor (see also threat to Ukraine). The ultimate geopolitical opportunist is waiting for false moves.

Andrew S. Weiss Against the backdrop of the European energy crisis and inflation fears, Putin plays the happy arsonist. Instead of trying to calm things down, Putin plays up a threat by Belarus’s Lukashenka to cut off Russian natural gas exports to Europe.