North American dreams of punishing Russia by cutting off its oil and gas are in trouble before they’ve even begun, coming face to face with an uncomfortable truth in Europe.
The mounting calls to turn off the Russian tap are alluring in the face of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. The “how,” on the other hand, is really hard, and it implies some tough choices — including in Canada.
The conundrum was on stage for all to see this week in London when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held his final news conference at 10 Downing Street Trudeau was touting the benefits of the world working in harmony against Russia as Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who was also there, said there’s just no way Europe was in any shape to turn off the supply of Russian energy.
“The painful reality is that we are still very much dependent on Russian gas and Russian oil,” Rutte said, channelling comments made earlier that day by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.