Russia’s vast energy supplies worry US

WASHINGTON – The Cold War competition between the United States and Russia


The Russians now supply about 25 percent of the European Union’s crude oil needs and half of its natural gas.

And Moscow, with its recent attack on its former Georgian republic, may be trying to blunt the West’s counteroffensive in the deadly serious energy competition. A key, U.S.-backed pipeline that carries oil out of Caspian and Central Asian fields to a Turkish port on the Mediterranean was nearly hit in recent attacks.

The stakes are high for the Europeans.

Some U.S. lawmakers worry about divisions within NATO due to Russia’s domination of European gas markets and the threat of cold, dark winters if an angry Kremlin closes the valves.

AP