Starmer hosted a security summit in London on March 2 with other European and world leaders as Britain, France, and Ukraine work on a cease-fire plan to present to the United States as an effort to end the Russia–Ukraine war.

Starmer emphasized that despite the breakdown in talks at the White House on Feb. 28, the United States remains an important ally to Britain.

“The U.S. has been a reliable ally to the U.K. for many, many decades and continues to be,” Starmer said. “There are no two countries as closely aligned as our two countries.”

Starmer said he is working on a Ukraine peace plan intended to receive U.S. backing and warned that Europe must do the heavy work of defending itself.

Starmer’s March 2 summit of leaders stands in contrast to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting in the White House on Feb. 28, during which U.S. President Donald Trump scolded him for not being ready for peace and not being grateful for America’s support in his nation’s defense against Russia’s three-year-long invasion.

Starmer said he’s working on restoring discussions of peace and is using the breakdown on Feb. 28 as an opportunity to reengage with Trump, Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron rather than “ramp up the rhetoric.”

“We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States,” Starmer told the BBC, adding that he and Macron have both spoken to Trump since the latter’s meeting with Zelenskyy.

At the summit, European leaders discussed shoring up the continent’s defenses in defending Ukraine, including discussions to create a European military force to send to the war-torn country to cap a cease-fire. Starmer suggested the military force would include a “coalition of the willing.”

While he does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, Starmer said he trusts Trump.

“Do I believe Donald Trump when he says he wants lasting peace? The answer to that is yes,” he said.

Starmer added that “intense discussions” to obtain a security guarantee from the United States are one of the three components of lasting peace.

“If there is to be a deal, if there is to be a stopping of the fighting, then that agreement has to be defended, because the worst of all outcomes is that there is a temporary pause, and then Putin comes again,” Starmer said. “That has happened in the past. I think it is a real risk, and that is why we must ensure that if there’s a deal, it is a lasting deal, not a temporary pause.”

The summit, held at Lancaster House—a 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace—will also include leaders from France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Romania.

Other attendees include the Turkish foreign minister, the NATO secretary-general, and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council.

Zelenskyy received support from European leaders after the contentious Feb. 28 meeting at the White House in which a rare earths deal was abandoned and Trump told Zelenskyy to come back when he was ready for peace.

After the Ukrainian president arrived in Britain on March 1, Starmer embraced him.

“As you heard from the cheers on the street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom,” Starmer said. “We stand with you, with Ukraine, for as long as it may take.”

Starmer also pledged to boost military spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027. Other European nations may follow suit.

On March 1, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said European countries must increase military spending to at least 3 percent of GDP as the continent faces a historic test in defending itself.

“If we don’t increase our effort fast enough and let the aggressor dictate its conditions, we won’t end up well,” he said.

In calling for unity among his European neighbors, Macron embraced more defense spending after saying it was legitimate for the United States to shift its military focus to China and Asia.

“We should have woken up earlier,” Macron said. “I’ve been saying for years that we need a more sovereign, more united, more independent Europe.”

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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe imposed a ban Sunday on Russian diesel fuel and other refined oil products, slashing energy dependency on Moscow and seeking to further crimp the Kremlin’s fossil fuel earnings as punishment for invading Ukraine.

The ban comes along with a price cap agreed by the Group of Seven allied democracies. The goal is allowing Russian diesel to keep flowing to countries like China and India and avoiding a sudden price rise that would hurt consumers worldwide, while reducing the profits funding Moscow’s budget and war.

Diesel is key for the economy because it is used to power cars, trucks carrying goods, farm equipment and factory machinery. Diesel prices have been elevated due to recovering demand after the COVID-19 pandemic and limits on refining capacity, contributing to inflation for other goods worldwide.

The new sanctions create uncertainty about prices as the 27-nation European Union finds new supplies of diesel from the U.S., Middle East and India to replace those from Russia, which at one point delivered 10% of Europe’s total diesel needs. Those are longer journeys than from Russia’s ports, stretching available tankers.

Prices also could be driven up by reviving demand from China as the economy rebounds after the end of draconian COVID-19 restrictions.

The price cap of $100 per barrel for diesel, jet fuel and gasoline is to be enforced by barring insurance and shipping services from handling diesel priced over the limit. Most of those companies are located in Western countries.

It follows a $60-per-barrel cap on Russian crude that took effect in December and is supposed to work the same way. Both the diesel and oil caps could be tightened later.

“Once we have these price caps set, we can squeeze the Russian price and deny them, deny (President Vladimir) Putin money for his war without a price spike that’s going to hurt Western economies and developing economies,” said Thomas O’Donnell, a global fellow with the Washington-based Wilson Center.

The diesel price cap will not bite immediately because it was set at about what Russian diesel trades for. Russia’s chief problem now will be finding new customers, not evading the price ceiling. However, the cap aims to prevent Russian gains from any sudden price spikes in refined oil products.

Analysts say there might be a price bump initially as markets sort out the changes. But they say the embargo should not cause a price spike if the cap works as intended and Russian diesel keeps flowing to other countries.

Diesel fuel at the pump has been flat since the start of December, costing 1.80 euros per liter ($7.37 per gallon) as of Jan. 30, according to the weekly oil market report issued by the European Union’s executive commission. Pump prices in Germany, the EU’s largest economy, fell 2.6 cents to 1.83 euros per liter ($7.48 per gallon) as of Jan. 31.

The ban provides for a 55-day grace period for diesel loaded on tankers before Sunday, a step aimed at avoiding ruffling markets. European Union officials say importers have had time to adjust since the ban was announced in June.

Russia earned more than $2 billion from diesel sales to Europe in December alone as importers appear to have stocked up with added purchases ahead of the ban.

Europe has already banned Russian coal and most crude oil, while Moscow has cut off most shipments of natural gas.

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Associated Press writer Jeffrey Schaeffer contributed from Paris.

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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Natural gas and electricity prices in Europe have plunged from summer peaks thanks to mild weather and a monthslong scramble to fill gas storage ahead of winter and replace Russian supplies during the war in Ukraine. It’s a welcome respite after Russia slashed natural gas flows, triggering an energy crisis that has fueled record inflation and a looming recession.

Yet experts warn it’s too soon to exhale, even as European governments roll out relief packages for people struggling with high utility bills and work on longer-term ways to contain volatile gas and electricity prices that have shrunk household budgets and forced some businesses to shut down.

Uncertainties include not only the weather but how responsive people will be to appeals to turn down their heating and how much demand there will be from Asian economies for scarce energy supplies. And the war a few hours east is a cauldron of possible unpleasant surprises that could cut energy supplies needed for electricity, heating and factory work and send prices sharply higher.

Persistent unknowns are leaving energy-intensive businesses jittery. They are appealing to governments to help them and their customers weather the energy storm so that disruptions in supplies of everything from glass to plastics to clean hospital sheets do not cascade through the economy.

“We must remember that we are still in a tense situation — an economic war between the European Union and Russia in which Russia has weaponized energy supplies,” said Agata Loskot-Strachota, an energy policy expert at the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw, Poland.

The good news is natural gas prices on Europe’s TTF benchmark fell on Monday below 100 euros (dollars) per megawatt-hour for the first time since June, a 70% drop from late August highs of nearly 350 euros per megawatt-hour. Electricity prices also fell.

While analysts say lower gas prices are allowing European fertilizer producers to restart operations, there’s no sense of relief for business owners like Sven Paar. His commercial laundry in the German town of Wallduern will use around 30,000 euros worth of natural gas this year to run 12 heavy-duty machines that can wash eight tons of hospital and hotel bedsheets and restaurant tablecloths each day.

His local utility says the bill is rising to 165,000 euros next year. On top of that, Paar says he’s unsettled by a lack of clarity from the German government on whether laundries like his would be considered essential to the economy and spared cutbacks in case of state-imposed rationing. Reports that the utility regulator is working on sorting out the question aren’t enough.

“The problem is, everyone has heard something, and just hearing something doesn’t bring me any planning security,” he said. A letter he sent to the regulator went unanswered.

“That’s the problem, you hope every day that you don’t get a call from someone that says, ‘Tomorrow you aren’t getting any gas,’” he said.

Germany’s hospital association has taken up the issue on behalf of laundries like his, saying hospitals have mostly outsourced their laundry services and would run out of sheets and surgical drapes within a few days without them.

The German government is working to roll out plans to cap gas prices for hard-hit businesses. The association representing smaller businesses says its understanding is that the government would focus any possible rationing on the 2,500 largest gas users in Germany and mostly spare businesses the size of Paar’s.

Helping ease the possibility of rationing is Europe’s underground storage getting filled to 94%, compared with 77% at this time last year, which energy expert Loskot-Strachota called “quite a success.” A big assist has come from mild weather across Europe, with Warsaw, for example, a relatively balmy 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday.

Germany, once heavily dependent on Russian gas, has filled storage to 97% of capacity, France to 99% and Belgium and Portugal both to 100%. That was achieved by importing record quantities of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which comes by ship from the U.S. and Qatar instead of by pipeline from Russia, and by increasing pipeline supplies from Norway and Azerbaijan.

The scramble to line up more LNG has led to a backup of tankers off the coast of Spain, a major processor, as orders collide with reduced demand and limited capacity at the country’s import terminals, which turn boatloads of supercooled LNG back into gas that then flows to homes and businesses.

Spanish gas company Enagas warned last week that it may have to delay or stop tankers from unloading LNG because its storage was almost full. Vessel positioning maps showed at least seven LNG tankers anchored close to Spanish shores Tuesday, though it wasn’t clear how many were waiting to unload.

Despite an abundance of LNG and falling prices, Loskot-Strachota said the energy situation remains volatile. She warns that prices for gas to be delivered in December and the 2023 winter months are higher than prices now.

Russian gas has dwindled to a trickle through pipelines in Ukraine and under the Black Sea to Turkey, but losing even the small amount that remains could roil markets. Moscow has blamed the reductions on technical reasons or a refusal to pay in rubles, while European leaders call it blackmail for supporting Ukraine.

EU governments also have been working on proposals including buying gas as a bloc or limiting price swings to ease the energy crisis, although the measures would largely affect next year’s purchases.

Gas use is down 15% in Europe, but that is mostly from factories simply abandoning production that has become unprofitable.

“This is dangerous — this hurts the economy, this hurts Europe,” Loskot-Strachota said.

Whether households will join businesses in cutting back by lowering thermostats and turning off lights cannot be determined until the cold weather comes in earnest. Russia’s willingness to destroy Ukrainian heating and electrical plans shows that Russia is ready to escalate despite battlefield defeats.

The market also is less flexible because gas reserves will be increasingly used as day-to-day base fuel for heating and generating electricity, rather than as a “swing” fuel during times of peak demand such as cold snaps.

“Every event, every problem, weather problem, Russia problem, becomes a factor which sends prices very very high,” Loskot-Strachota said. “I’m very happy that we’re in a calm situation now, but it is nothing that will last for the whole winter.”

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Raquel Redondo contributed from Madrid.

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A sprawling disinformation network originating in Russia sought to use hundreds of fake social media accounts and dozens of sham news websites to spread Kremlin talking points about the invasion of Ukraine, Meta revealed Tuesday.

The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said it identified and disabled the operation before it was able to gain a large audience. Nonetheless, Facebook said it was the largest and most complex Russian propaganda effort that it has found since the invasion began.

The operation involved more than 60 websites created to mimic legitimate news sites including The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom and Germany’s Der Spiegel. Instead of the actual news reported by those outlets, however, the fake sites contained links to Russian propaganda and disinformation about Ukraine. More than 1,600 fake Facebook accounts were used to spread the propaganda to audiences in Germany, Italy, France, the U.K. and Ukraine.

The findings highlighted both the promise of social media companies to police their sites and the peril that disinformation continues to pose.

“Video: False Staging in Bucha Revealed!” claimed one of the fake news stories, which blamed Ukraine for the slaughter of hundreds of Ukrainians in a town occupied by the Russians.

The fake social media accounts were then used to spread links to the fake news stories and other pro-Russian posts and videos on Facebook and Instagram, as well as platforms including Telegram and Twitter. The network was active throughout the summer.

“On a few occasions, the operation’s content was amplified by the official Facebook pages of Russian embassies in Europe and Asia,” said David Agranovich, Meta’s director of threat disruption. “I think this is probably the largest and most complex Russian-origin operation that we’ve disrupted since the beginning of the war in Ukraine earlier this year.”

The network’s activities were first noticed by investigative reporters in Germany. When Meta began its investigation it found that many of the fake accounts had already been removed by Facebook’s automated systems. Thousands of people were following the network’s Facebook pages when they were deactivated earlier this year.

Researchers said they couldn’t directly attribute the network to the Russian government. But Agranovich noted the role played by Russian diplomats and said the operation relied on some sophisticated tactics, including the use of multiple languages and carefully constructed imposter websites.

Since the war began in February, the Kremlin has used online disinformation and conspiracy theories in an effort to weaken international support for Ukraine. Groups linked to the Russian government have accused Ukraine of staging attacks, blamed the war on baseless allegations of U.S. bioweapon development and portrayed Ukrainian refugees as criminals and rapists.

“Even though Russia is fully involved in Ukraine in the military conflict, they’re able to do more than one thing at a time,” said Brian Murphy, a former Department of Homeland Security intelligence chief who is now a vice president at the counter-disinformation firm Logically. “They have never stopped their sophisticated disinformation operations.”

Social media platforms and European governments have tried to stifle the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation, only to see Russia shift tactics.

A message sent to the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., asking for a response to Meta’s recent actions was not immediately returned.

Researchers at Meta Platforms Inc., which is based in Menlo Park, California, also exposed a much smaller network that originated in China and attempted to spread divisive political content in the U.S.

The operation reached only a tiny U.S. audience, with some posts receiving just a single engagement. The posts also made some amateurish moves that showed they weren’t American, including some clumsy English language mistakes and a habit of posting during Chinese working hours.

Despite its ineffectiveness, the network is notable because it’s the first identified by Meta that targeted Americans with political messages ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The Chinese posts didn’t support one party or the other but seemed intent on stirring up polarization.

“While it failed, it’s important because it’s a new direction” for Chinese disinformation operations, said Ben Nimmo, who directs global threat intelligence for Meta.

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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe is struggling to contain an energy crisis that could lead to rolling blackouts, shuttered factories and a deep recession.

The primary cause: Russia has choked off the supplies of cheap natural gas that the continent depended on for years to run factories, generate electricity and heat homes. That has pushed European governments into a desperate scramble for new supplies and for ways to blunt the impact as economic growth slows and household utility bills rise.

The crisis deepened when Russia’s state-owned exporter Gazprom said the main pipeline carrying gas to Germany would stay closed, blaming an oil leak and claiming the problems could not be fixed because of sanctions barring many dealings with Russia.

European officials say it’s energy blackmail, aimed at pressuring and dividing the European Union as it supports Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Here is the latest on Europe’s efforts to avoid an energy disaster:

DID RUSSIA CUT OFF GAS TO EUROPE?

Just about. The halt in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline means Russian gas shipments have fallen 89% from a year ago. Russia used to supply 40% of Europe’s natural gas, and even more to Germany, where inexpensive energy was a pillar of the economy.

There’s still some Russian gas flowing to Europe through a pipeline passing through Ukraine into Slovakia, and another crossing the Black Sea to Turkey and then to EU member Bulgaria. Russia started cutting back gas as early as last summer, before the war in Ukraine started. That sent gas prices sharply higher.

Then Gazprom cut off a number of European countries after they responded to the outbreak of the war by banning many dealings with Russian banks, businesses and persons.

The reductions have led to soaring natural gas prices, which have hit records in the past few weeks. Given Russia’s slow constriction of supplies since last summer, experts say Europe needs to be ready for zero Russian gas this winter.

WHY IS RUSSIAN GAS SO IMPORTANT?

High energy prices are already threatening to cause a recession this winter through record inflation, with consumers having less to spend as costs rise for food, fuel and utilities. A complete cutoff could deal an even heavier blow to an already troubled economy.

Besides heating homes and generating electricity, gas is used to fire a range of industrial processes that most people never think much about — forging steel to go into cars, making glass bottles and pasteurizing milk and cheese.

Companies warn that they often can’t switch overnight to other energy sources such as fuel oil or electricity to produce heat. And, with everyone searching for alternate supplies, fuel oil and coal have also risen in price.

In some cases, equipment that holds molten metal or glass is ruined if the heat is turned off, and over the longer term, energy-intensive businesses may simply give up on Europe.

IS THE PROBLEM JUST ABOUT HIGH NATURAL GAS PRICES?

No. Electricity prices also have skyrocketed because gas is a key fuel to generate power. To make matters worse, other sources of power have lagged for reasons not connected to Russia.

Drought has undermined hydroelectric power from rivers and reservoirs. France’s fleet of 56 nuclear power plants is running at half-strength because of shutdowns over corrosion problems in key pipes and repairs, updating and safety checks. A heat wave limited use of river water for cooling power plants, and lower water levels on Germany’s Rhine River reduced supplies of coal to generators.

In a role reversal, France is talking about sending natural gas to Germany, while Germany is exporting electricity to France. Usually it’s the other way around.

Analysts at Rystad Energy say Europe could face a serious electricity shortage as soon as this month. This winter, a worst case of cold weather, low wind generation and a 15% cut in gas use “would prove very challenging for the European power system, and could lead to power rationing and blackouts.”

“Regardless of the exact scenario, the coming winter is certain to be the most challenging Europe has seen in decades — and consumers or governments are expected to pay the price,” said Carlos Torres-Diaz, head of power at Rystad Energy. “If gas demand needs to be cut, we expect to see power supply issues emerging this month and worsening into 2023.”

WHAT IS EUROPE DOING TO EASE THE CRISIS?

Europe has lined up all the alternative gas supplies it could: shipments of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, that come by ship from the United States and more pipeline gas from Norway and Azerbaijan. LNG is much more expensive than pipeline gas, however.

Germany is keeping coal plants in operation that it was going to shutter to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It also is keeping the option of reactivating two nuclear plants it’s set to shut down.

The 27-nation EU has approved a plan to reduce gas use by 15% by next March, roughly the amount experts say will need to make up for the loss of Russian gas. Yet those conservation measures are voluntary in member countries for now.

National governments have approved a raft of measures: bailouts for utilities forced to pay exorbitant prices for Russian gas, cash for hard-hit households and tax breaks.

For example, Germany has approved a third support package with 65 billion euros ($64.3 billion) in aid for consumers. That kind of spending will add to national deficits but also soften the downturn that economists are predicting for the end of this year and beginning of next year.

More steps are coming. The president of the EU’s executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, says a new proposal will include a price cap on natural gas and measures that could decouple the price of electricity from gas.

Perhaps most important in the short term, Europe has managed to fill 82% of its storage for winter with the help of LNG and diminished consumption because of high prices. Storage levels have kept rising even after the Nord Stream 1 cutoff.

Partly as result, gas prices have fallen to their pre-cutoff level, although they are still painfully high.

WHAT’S RUSSIA’S GAME?

Even as gas sales dwindled, skyrocketing prices helped maintain Russia’s income from those sales. Oil and gas imports were initially exempt from sanctions because Europe was dependent on Russian energy. Europe has banned Russian coal and will ban most Russian oil at the end of the year.

Russia’s revenue from fossil fuel exports reached 158 billion euros from February to August, according to the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

But oil has tended to be the Kremlin’s main moneymaker, and unlike gas in fixed pipelines to Europe, can be sold worldwide by tanker. And the gas relationship with Europe may be gone for good — and with it, any influence it might have brought.

“The gas flows from Europe no longer play a role in my calculations,” German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said. “The only reliable thing from Russia are lies.”

So if Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks he has any leverage from gas, time is running out for him to use it.

“Russia has lost nothing now that it hadn’t lost already … this winter is the last chance to use the gas weapon, successfully or not,” tweeted Janis Kluge, an expert on the Russian economy at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

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BERLIN (AP) — Europe faced an energy crisis even before drama emerged about the Nord Stream 1 pipeline reopening from Russia to Germany.

While natural gas started flowing again Thursday after the major pipeline shut down for 10 days of maintenance, Europe will still struggle to keep homes warm and industry humming this winter.

That is because Russia has already slashed Europe’s amounts of natural gas used to power factories, generate electricity and heat homes in the winter, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned they could keep dwindling.

Deliveries through Nord Stream 1 were cut by 60% before annual repairs began and were expected to stay well below the pipeline’s full capacity. Government officials had feared the pipeline may not reopen at all, saying Putin is using energy for political leverage in his confrontation with the European Union over the war in Ukraine.

Here are key things to know about Europe’s energy crisis:

DID RUSSIA CUT OFF GAS TO EUROPE?

It has reduced supplies significantly. Even before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was not selling gas on the short-term spot market. After the EU imposed sanctions on Russia’s banks and companies and started sending weapons to Ukraine, Russian cut off gas to six countries and reduced supplies to six more.

Flows into Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, through Nord Stream 1 were dialed back by two-thirds, with Russia blaming a part that was sent to Canada for maintenance and not returned due to sanctions. European leaders rejected that claim, calling it a political move to create uncertainty and spike energy prices.

It has left the 27-member EU scrambling to fill gas storage ahead of winter, when demand rises and utility companies draw down their reserves to keep homes warm and power plants running.

The EU’s goal is to use less gas now to build storage for winter. Europe’s gas reserves are only 65% full, compared with a goal of 80% by Nov. 1.

WHY IS RUSSIAN NATURAL GAS SO IMPORTANT?

Russia supplied some 40% of Europe’s natural gas before the war. That has dropped to around 15%, sending prices through the roof and straining energy-intensive industries.

Gas is used across a range of processes that most people never see — to forge steel to make cars, make glass bottles and pasteurize milk and cheese.

Companies warn that they often can’t switch overnight to other energy sources such as fuel oil or electricity to produce heat. In some cases, equipment that holds molten metal or glass is ruined if the heat is turned off.

High energy prices are already threatening to cause a recession in Europe through record inflation, with consumers having less to spend as costs rise for food, fuel and utilities. A complete cutoff could deal an even heavier blow to an already troubled economy.

WHAT IS THE NORD STREAM 1 PIPELINE?

It is the major European natural gas pipeline that runs under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany and is Germany’s main source of Russian gas.

The head of Germany’s network regulator, Klaus Mueller, tweeted that gas deliveries could reach the pre-maintenance level of some 40% on Thursday.

Even with Nord Stream 1 resuming at reduced levels, Europe would need to save 12 billion cubic meters of gas, the equivalent of 120 LNG tankers, to fill its storage levels by winter.

Three other pipelines bring Russian gas to Europe, but one through Poland and Belarus has been shut down. Another, through Ukraine and Slovakia, is still bringing reduced amounts of gas despite the fighting, as is one through Turkey into Bulgaria.

Gas also comes by pipeline from Norway, North Africa and Azerbaijan.

WHAT’S PUTIN’S GAME?

Although Russia’s oil and gas exporters are selling less energy, spiking prices mean Putin’s earnings have actually increased, according to the International Energy Agency.

Since the invasion, Russia’s revenue from exporting oil and gas to Europe has doubled over the average from recent years, to $95 billion, the Paris-based IEA said.

The increase in Russia’s energy revenue in just the last five months is three times what it typically makes by exporting gas to Europe over an entire winter.

So Putin has cash in hand and could calculate that painful utility bills and an energy recession could undermine public support for Ukraine in Europe and increase sentiment for a negotiated settlement in his favor.

“Based on what we have seen over the past year, it would be unwise to exclude the possibility that Russia could decide to forgo the revenue it gets from exporting gas to Europe in order to gain political leverage,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said.

Indeed, Putin said Tuesday that the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1 would decline even further if the turbine that was sent to Canada for repairs wasn’t returned by late July, when another turbine would shut down for maintenance. Canada has said it gave permission to return the part that powers a compression station.

“Our partners are trying to shift the blame for the mistakes they made to Russia and Gazprom, but it’s absolutely unfounded,” Putin said.

WHAT CAN EUROPE DO?

The EU has turned to more-expensive liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which comes by ship from places like the U.S. and Qatar. Germany is fast-tracking construction of LNG import terminals on its North Sea coast, but that will take years. The first of four floating reception terminals is to come online later this year.

But LNG alone can’t make up the gap. The world’s LNG export facilities are running at full capacity amid tight energy markets, and there’s no more gas to be had. An explosion at a U.S. terminal in Freeport, Texas, that sent most of its gas to Europe took 2.5% of Europe’s supply offline overnight.

Conservation and other energy sources are key. For example, Germany is running coal plants longer, creating a gas auction system intended to encourage conservation, and resetting thermostats in public buildings.

The European Union on Wednesday proposed that member states voluntarily cut their gas use by 15% over the coming months. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is seeking the power to impose mandatory reductions across the bloc if there’s a risk of a severe gas shortage or an exceptionally high demand.

EU member states will discuss the measures at an emergency meeting of energy ministers next Tuesday.

Countries have been scrambling to secure alternative energy supplies, with leaders of Italy, France and the European Union sealing deals with their counterparts in Algeria, Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates this week.

COULD PEOPLE FREEZE THIS WINTER?

It’s unlikely homes, schools and hospitals will lose heat because governments are required to impose rationing first on businesses. The German government also could allow gas suppliers to immediately pass on increases to customers.

The choices could include torpedoing industry and/or socking consumers with even higher bills.

The IEA recommends European countries step up campaigns people to conserve at home and plan to share gas in an emergency. And time is getting short.

“European leaders need to be preparing for this possibility now to avoid the potential damage that would result from a disjointed and destabilizing response,” Birol said. “This winter could become a historic test of European solidarity — one it cannot afford to fail — with implications far beyond the energy sector.”

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Across Europe, signs of distress are multiplying as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on. Food banks in Italy are feeding more people. German officials are turning down the air conditioning as they prepare plans to ration natural gas and restart coal plants.

A giant utility is asking for a taxpayer bailout, and more may be coming. Dairies wonder how they will pasteurize milk. The euro has sagged to a 20-year low against the dollar, and recession predictions are on the rise.

Those pressure points are signs of how the conflict — and the Kremlin gradually choking off natural gas that keeps industry humming — provoked an energy crisis in Europe and raised the likelihood of a plunge back into recession just as the economy was rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, high energy costs fueled by the war are benefiting Russia, a major oil and natural gas exporter whose agile central bank and years of experience living with sanctions have stabilized the ruble and inflation despite economic isolation.

In the long run, however, economists say Russia, while avoiding complete collapse, will pay a heavy price for the war: deepening economic stagnation through lost investment and lower incomes for its people.

Europe’s most pressing challenge is shorter term: battle record inflation of 8.6% and get through the winter without crippling energy shortages. The continent relies on Russian natural gas, and higher energy prices are flowing through to factories, food costs and fuel tanks.

Uncertainty weighs on energy-intensive industries like steel and agriculture, which could face natural gas rationing to protect homes if the crisis worsens.

Molkerei Berchtesgadener Land, a large dairy cooperative in the German town of Piding outside Munich, has stockpiled 200,000 liters (44,000 gallons) of fuel oil so it can keep producing power and steam for pasteurizing milk and keeping it cold if electricity or natural gas to its turbine generator is cut off.

It’s a critical safeguard for 1,800 member farmers whose 50,000 cows produce a million liters of milk a day. Dairy cows have to be milked daily, and a shutdown would leave that ocean of milk with nowhere to go.

“If the dairy doesn’t function, then the farmers can’t either,” managing director Bernhard Pointner said. “Then the farmers would have to discard their milk.”

In one hour, the dairy uses the equivalent of a year’s worth of electricity for a home to keep up to 20,000 pallets of milk cold.

The dairy also has stockpiled packaging and other supplies to guard against suppliers being hit by an energy shortage: “We have a lot stored … but that will only last a few weeks.”

The economic woes also appear at the dinner table. Consumer groups estimate a typical Italian family is spending 681 euros (dollars) more this year to feed themselves.

“We’re really concerned about the situation and the continuous increase in the number of families we’re supporting,” said Dario Boggio Marzet, president of the Food Bank of Lombardy, which groups dozens of charities that run soup kitchens and provide staples to the needy. Their monthly costs are up 5,000 euros this year.

Jessica Lobli, a single mother of two from the Paris suburb of Gennevilliers, pays close attention to surging grocery prices. She’s reduced her consumption of milk and yogurt and renounced Nutella or branded cookies.

“The situation will worsen, but we need to eat in order to survive,” said Lobli, who earns between 1,300 and 2,000 euros per month working in a school kitchen.

Her monthly food budget of 150 to 200 euros dropped to 100 euros in June. She said her family doesn’t eat as much in summer, but she’s concerned about September, when she will have to buy school supplies for her 15-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son, further whittling her budget.

French President Emmanuel Macron says the government aims to conserve energy by switching off public lights at night and taking other steps. Similarly, German officials are begging people and businesses to save energy and ordering lower heat and air-conditioning settings in public buildings.

It follows Russia cutting off or reducing natural gas to a dozen European countries. A major gas pipeline also shut down for scheduled maintenance last week, and there are fears that flows through Nord Stream 1 between Russia and Germany will not restart.

Germany’s biggest importer of Russian gas, Uniper, has asked for government help after it was squeezed between skyrocketing gas prices and what it was allowed to charge customers.

Carsten Brzeski, chief eurozone economist at ING bank, foresees a recession at the end of the year as high prices sap purchasing power. Europe’s longer-term economic growth will depend on whether governments tackle the massive investments needed for the transition to an economy based on renewable energy.

“Without investment, without structural change, the only thing left is to hope that everything will work as before — but it won’t,” Brzeski said.

While Europe is suffering, Russia has stabilized its ruble exchange rate, stock market and inflation through extensive government intervention. Russian oil is finding more buyers in Asia, albeit at discounted prices, as Western customers back off.

After being hit with sanctions over the 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region, the Kremlin built a fortress economy by keeping debt low and pushing companies to source parts and food within Russia.

Though foreign-owned businesses like IKEA have shuttered and Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time in over a century, there’s no sense of imminent crisis in downtown Moscow. Well-heeled young people still go to restaurants, even if Uniqlo, Victoria’s Secret and Zara stores are closed in the seven-story Evropeisky mall.

The successor to McDonald’s, Vkusno-i Tochka, is serving more or less identical food, while the former Krispy Kreme in the mall has rebranded but sells basically the same offerings.

In less well-off provinces, Sofya Suvorova, who lives in Nizhny Novgorod, 440 kilometers (273 miles) from Moscow, has felt the squeeze on the family budget.

“We practically do not order takeaway food anymore,” she said while shopping at a supermarket. “It used to be very convenient when you have small children. We go to cafes less often. We had to reduce some entertainment, like concerts and theaters; we try to keep this for children, but adults had to cut it.”

Economists say the ruble’s exchange rate — stronger against the dollar than before the war — and declining inflation present a misleading picture.

Rules preventing money from leaving the country and forcing exporters to exchange most of their foreign earnings from oil and gas into rubles have rigged the exchange rate.

And the inflation rate “has partially lost its meaning,” Janis Kluge, an expert on the Russian economy at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, wrote in a recent analysis. That’s because it does not account for disappearing Western goods, and lower inflation probably reflects sagging demand.

Some 2.8 million Russians were employed by foreign or mixed ownership firms in 2020, according to political scientist Ilya Matveev. If suppliers are taken into account, as many as 5 million jobs, or 12% of the workforce, depend on foreign investment.

Foreign companies may find Russian owners, and protectionism and a glut of government jobs will prevent mass unemployment.

But the economy will be far less productive, Kluge said, “leading to a significant decline in average real incomes.”

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BERLIN (AP) — Before Russia’s war in Ukraine, Europe’s most pressing energy policy goal was reducing carbon emissions that cause climate change.

Now, officials are fixated on rapidly reducing the continent’s reliance on Russian oil and natural gas — and that means friction between security and climate goals, at least in the short term.

To wean itself from Russian energy supplies as quickly as possible, Europe will need to burn more coal and build more pipelines and terminals to import fossil fuels from elsewhere.

This dramatic shift comes amid soaring fuel costs for motorists, homeowners and businesses, and as political leaders reassess the geopolitical risks from being so energy-dependent on Russia.

In 2021, the European Union imported roughly 40% of its gas and 25% of its oil from Russia — an economic relationship that officials had thought would prevent hostilities, but is instead financing them.

While some are calling for an immediate boycott of all Russian oil and gas, the EU plans to reduce Russian gas imports by two-thirds by the end of this year, and to eliminate them altogether before 2030.

This “will not be easy,” said Paolo Gentiloni, the EU’s top economic official. But, he added, “it can be done.”

In the near-term, ending energy ties with Russia puts the focus on securing alternative sources of fossil fuels. But longer term, the geopolitical and price pressures stoked by Russia’s war in Ukraine may actually accelerate Europe’s transition away from oil, gas and coal.

Experts say the war has served as a reminder that renewable energy isn’t just good for the climate, but also for national security. That could help speed up the development of wind and solar power, as well as provide a boost to conservation and energy-efficiency initiatives.

The EU has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 55% compared with 1990 levels by 2030, and to get to net zero emissions by 2050. Analysts and officials say those goals, enshrined in EU climate legislation, can still be met.

The rapid pursuit of energy independence from Russia will likely require “a slight increase” in carbon emissions, said George Zachmann, an energy expert at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels. But “in the long term, the effect will be that we will see more investment in renewables and energy efficiency in Europe,” Zachmann said.

Plans that wouldn’t have been contemplated just a few months ago are now being actively discussed, such as running coal plants in Germany beyond 2030, which had previously been seen as an end date.

Germany’s vice chancellor and energy minister, Robert Habeck, said there should be “no taboos.”

The Czech government has made the same calculation about extending the life of coal power plants.

“We will need it until we find alternative sources,” Czech energy security commissioner Václav Bartuška, told the news site Seznam Zprávy. “Until that time, even the greenest government will not phase out coal.”

One of Europe’s top priorities is to buy more liquefied natural gas that can come by ship. On Friday, American and European officials announced a plan under which the U.S. and other nations will increase liquefied gas exports to Europe this year, though U.S. officials were unable to say exactly which countries will provide the extra energy this year.

Germany, which lacks import terminals to turn LNG back into gas when it comes off the ship, is pushing ahead with two multibillion-euro projects on its North Sea coast.

The war also has revived Spain’s interest in extending a gas pipeline across the Pyrenees to France. The 450 million-euro ($500 million) project had been abandoned in 2019 after France showed little interest and a European feasibility study deemed it unprofitable and unnecessary. If built, it would allow gas imported in Spain and Portugal as LNG to reach other parts of Europe.

In Britain, which is no longer part of the EU, Prime Minister Boris Johnson says it’s “time to take back control of our energy supplies.”

Britain will phase out the small amount of oil it imports from Russia this year. More significantly, Johnson has signaled plans to approve new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, to the dismay of environmentalists, who say that is incompatible with Britain’s climate targets.

Some within the governing Conservative Party and the wider political right want the British government to retreat on its commitment to reach net zero by 2050, a pledge made less than six months ago at a global climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Conservative Party co-chairman Oliver Dowden said last week that “British people want to see a bit of conservative pragmatism, not net zero dogma.”

Yet the shock waves from the war cut both ways.

Sharply higher gas and electricity prices, and the desire to be less dependent on Russia, are increasing pressure to expand the development of home-grown renewables and to propel conservation.

The International Energy Agency recently released a 10-point plan for Europe to reduce its dependence on Russian gas by a third within a year. Simply lowering building thermostats by an average of one degree Celsius during the home-heating season would save 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, or roughly 6% of what Europe imports from Russia.

At the German rooftop solar panel company Zolar, chief executive Alex Melzer said there has been a surge of inquiries from potential customers since the war began.

“With the Ukraine crisis, we’ve really seen that people are wondering whether Germany is going to stop buying oil and gas from Russia and what’s going to happen to our electricity and energy system,” he told The Associated Press.

Melzer said customers are less interested in saving the planet than in saving money, despite the upfront investment of 20,000 euros ($22,000). But it amounts to the same thing: a reduction in fossil fuel use and thereby emissions.

“Goal achieved, super,” he said.

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Steve McCann | Columnist

Since 1916 and the First World War, United States foreign policy has been dominated by Eurocentrism. Following the Second World War, America has been the military protector of Western Europe for 73 years through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO.

Now the time has come to disband NATO and tell the countries of Europe, in particular Germany, that they are on their own, as this nation must focus on its ever-growing domestic problems and the global threat of Communist China.

The United States should have begun the process of severing military commitments with Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. After all, protecting Europe and thus the United States against Soviet aggression was the primary purpose of NATO. But an irrational fear of a non-existent nation and its former satellites still persists and has been conferred on its much smaller and less formidable successor, Russia. Together with the compulsive need to defend a prosperous continent these two pillars still form the basis of American military planning and international policy.

The divorce process should have been accelerated in 1993 when the anti-democratic European Union comprising 27 European countries and unified economic, social, and security policies came into being. The combined population of these nations is 33% larger and their overall annual Gross National Product is second only to the United States. Since 1993 Europe has been more than capable of defending itself.

The primary accomplishment of the European Union has been to pave the way for Germany to once again assume the dominant role in Europe. Under the guise and false pretense of an all-powerful administrative European Union, the German ideas of collectivism, protectionism, and corporatism have been successfully established throughout much of Europe.

Through a single currency, a single market, a European Central Bank which controls monetary policy and sets interest rates, strict industry protocols, an overbearing bureaucracy, and an endless array of regulations, German influence saturates all of Europe. German economic might has placed many of the poorer southern European states in a vice grip of indebtedness from which they cannot escape unless the Euro fails. In which case the entire continent is thrust into uncontrolled financial chaos which ultimately benefits Germany and Russia.

German determination to dominate Europe did not end in 1945; it continues to the present day. With the exception of Great Britain, Germany is Western Europe and Western Europe is Germany.

Thanks to their determination to “go green,” Germany has shuttered its nuclear power plants, is closing its coal plants, and is failing miserably in its attempt to rely on alternative electricity sources such as wind and solar. Germany has made a commitment to natural gas. With no supply of their own, Germans are dependent on imports. And those imports come from Russia. Further, the new socialist government in Germany is further left of center than ever before and philosophically closer to Russia than the United States.

If the European Union as presently constituted continues to exist, the economic power of Germany and the fossil fuel reserves and military of Russia will, in due course, give birth to Germany and Russia being in a de facto alliance in full control of the European continent, achieving a centuries-old goal for both nations.

Yet, the United States through NATO not only continues to defend Germany and much of Europe against the theoretical enemy Germany is in bed with, but Germany and 19 other countries refuse to meet their financial and military obligations to the alliance. The imbalance in the alliance is not just the funding but the obligation of the United States to get involved in virtually any and all internal and external conflicts involving the countries of Europe.

The ongoing threat by Russia to invade Ukraine is the latest debacle in Europe involving NATO. It has revealed not only the folly of keeping that alliance alive but the mindset of the German ruling class.

Ukraine is not a member of NATO. Even if it were, it is a European problem requiring a European solution. Nonetheless, Germany, a huge beneficiary of NATO’s defense and protection for generations, is refusing to participate in either a NATO or a European solution.

They will not defend Ukraine, agree to sanctions, send armaments or support, and have banned other countries from using German air space or transportation to do so. Germany has turned its back insisting on an obsequious pro-Russia approach. It is not just a matter of dependence on Russian gas, but realpolitik at play for both countries, as Germany in 2014 didn’t lift a finger or protest Russia’s proxy war in Eastern Ukraine or the annexation of Crimea.

Instead of having an addled American president creating chaos and stumbling into a military conflict under the umbrella of NATO, the United States should use the Ukrainian-Russian confrontation as the perfect opportunity to tell Germany and the rest of Europe: This is your problem; find a solution as we are finished with NATO and being dragged into conflicts that are not in our national interest.

The time has come to focus on the home front and the global hegemony Communist China is determined to achieve. This country does not have the wealth or resources to protect Europe from itself, solve myriad domestic and societal issues, and confront China. Due to its size, ideology, implacable nationalism, economy, and centuries-old belief in manifest destiny, China is the greatest long-term threat to the United States in its history.

I am from Europe. While I no longer have any familial ties to Europe, I have many emotional ties to the continent where I was born and later maintained an office. America leaving NATO will force Europe to confront the long-term viability of a German-dominated European Union and Russia’s ambitions. As well as come to the realization that Communist China is a far greater threat to Europe than their present-day internal squabbles.

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It has always been a rat race between smartphone makers, especially in the congested Android market, but recent changes in the who’s who is shaking things up a bit. With Huawei’s exit in many listings, the opportunity for Chinese brands like Xiaomi and OPPO to take over has never been greater. As the latest data from Europe proves, Xiaomi definitely took advantage of that situation.

Strategy Analytics says that Xiaomi shipped 12.7 million smartphones in the region in the second quarter of 2021, up by 67.1% from the same period last year. It narrowly beat Samsung, which shipped 12 million units, but the Korean brand actually lost shares in comparison. Despite its 15.7% year-on-year growth, Apple was pushed to third place.

The biggest growers, however, were OPPO and Realme, despite having the lowest shipment volumes among the top 5. OPPO shipped only 2.8 million but grew by 180%, while Realme’s astounding 1800% growth was thanks to only 1.9 million smartphones shipped. As expected, Huawei is nowhere to be seen, but neither is Vivo.

These might just be numbers, but it reflects a significant change in market trends, at least in Europe. Consumers are gravitating away from the likes of Samsung and Apple to get their smartphone fix, especially with new affordable 5G devices. More importantly, brands like Xiaomi and OPPO are starting to be seen in a more favorable light in recent years, providing enough threat to longtime market leaders in different regions of the world.

JC Torres | Contributed

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