Russia’s Lavrov assails West over switch to green energy.

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of inciting problems in the world gas and oil markets by quickly pushing other nations to transition to renewable energy sources.

“The reasons for the negative phenomena in the energy sector were the irresponsible actions of the collective West when it decided to force… the green transition for itself and impose the same green transition on other countries that were simply not economically ready for it,” Lavrov stated on television.

In reaction to the conflict in Ukraine, he said that Western boycotts of Russian energy had “dealt a serious blow to global energy security.” Due to these actions, historical value chains were broken, global energy flows had to be expensively redistributed, and transaction and logistical expenses increased.”

According to Lavrov, Europe became increasingly dependent on costly imports from the United States when Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines to that continent blew up last year, depriving the continent of inexpensive gas.

His remarks were consistent with Moscow’s long-standing narrative, which holds that Western nations made a significant mistake by abandoning Russian energy and that sanctions on Russia have been an own goal.

The sanctions badly impact the Russian gas company Gazprom, losing most of its European markets. As a result, Russia has been compelled to drastically boost its oil sales to nations like China and India at a discount.