French President Emmanuel Macron stated, on Thursday, that France aims to manage without Russian gas as soon as possible with no early end to the war in Ukraine in sight.
In a TV interview, Macron accused Moscow of using energy deliveries to the West as "a weapon of war", affirming that France was already persifying the sources of its energy supplies, and building stocks ahead of next winter.
"Russia has already started to cut off gas supplies" by closing the Nordstream 1 pipeline, he told the TF1 channel, referring to Russia's interruption of supplies which it said was for maintenance reasons.
"That's a very clear message: It will use gas as a weapon of war," he asserted. "We will need do without Russian gas completely."
France is estimated to receive less than 20% of its total gas imports from Russia. Hence, Macron indicated that transitioning away from Russian energy meant that "the summer and the start of the autumn will probably be very tough."
Noting that France's energy use had already "diminished a little" compared to a year earlier, the president urged authorities, consumers and industry to save energy and eliminate sources of energy waste.
"We need to enter a collective logic of restraint," Macron said.
In the same vein, the French leader stressed that his country would continue to help Ukraine defend itself against Moscow while also sticking with sanctions against Russia.
"We want to stop this war without going to war ourselves," he said.
Earlier this week, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire pointed out that Paris is preparing for a total cutoff of Russian gas supplies, which it sees as the most likely scenario in its forward planning.
“I think that a total cutoff of Russian gas supplies is a real possibility … and we need to prepare for this scenario,” Le Maire noted. “It would be totally irresponsible to ignore this scenario."
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