ROME, February 22. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergey Razov considers the course of the Italian authorities towards rejecting Russian energy carriers a vain and pointless sacrifice.
As for stopping the imports of energy carriers from Russia, frankly speaking, I do not understand the meaning of triumphant reports on this matter that one can hear from time to time, the diplomat said in an interview with the ANSA news agency published on Wednesday.
He admitted that in the near future Italy will probably be able to completely abandon the supply of energy resources from Russia.
I wonder: why and at what cost? Liquefied natural gas, including from the United States, costs 4 5 times more than Russian pipeline gas. Considerable costs are required for the construction of regasification facilities, and environmental problems are getting more complicated, Razov said. He also noted the manyfold increase in gas tariffs for industrial enterprises and households, which negatively affects the competitiveness of Italian products.
There is an expression in Russia: I ll freeze my ears off just to spite my mother. The sacrifice is a vain and pointless one, especially since people in Russia have never had any ill will towards Italians, the diplomat said.
Last year, Rome set a goal to completely rid itself of energy dependence on Russia by mid 2024, replacing all Russian gas supplies, which accounted for 40% of the total demand for gas. The new government that came to power at the end of October 2022 confirmed this goal. Italy still continues to receive Russian gas, but in much smaller volumes. In the meantime, according to experts, the volume of LNG purchases is growing.
