Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson said that the decision of US President Joe Biden to temporarily halt the signing of new contracts for the export of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) favours Moscow and makes the European Union dependent on products from Russia.
“President Biden’s decision to suspend construction of natural gas export terminals is outrageous. By bending his knees before climate change activists, the President is empowering Russia,” the House Speaker wrote in the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The American parliamentarian believes that such a decision by the head of the White House depletes American energy security and forces the European Union to rely on “dirty Russian exports”.
“A disgusting failure,” Mike Johnson summarised.
On 26 January, the White House published on its own website that the American head of state had decided to temporarily stop making decisions on LNG exports from the United States, except in urgent and unforeseen emergencies that pose a threat to the national security of the United States. The administration noted that this step is an element of the political line of Joe Biden in the framework of the fight against the crisis in the climate sphere.
Earlier, the British newspaper The Telegraph, citing Eurostat, reported that despite the sanctions against Russia, EU countries imported €6.1bn worth of Russian liquefied natural gas in 2023 – more than half of all exports from Russia.