Gas prices might soar if Russia decides to invade Ukraine.
The news: Prices at the pump — which have already been on the rise — will likely climb if Russia decides to invade Ukraine, experts recently told CNN.
- Russia is the second-biggest oil producer in the world.
- Ukraine is a major player when it comes to energy transit. In fact, a lot of Russia’s natural gas exports move through Ukraine.
- “An invasion of Ukraine would trigger immediate fears of sanctions from Washington on Russia’s vast energy resources, damage to the region’s energy infrastructure and raise the specter of Vladimir Putin weaponizing exports of natural gas and crude oil,” CNN reports.
Why it matters: Americans are already worried about inflation and gas prices. Adding on more prices as the result of international dispute won’t sit well with the American people. It won’t help President Joe Biden’s slipping approval rate, either.
The latest update: Biden said Wednesday during a press conference that he expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to order an invasion of Ukraine, The New York Times reports.
- “Do I think he’ll test the West, test the United States and NATO, as significantly as he can? Yes, I think he will,” Biden said in a nearly two-hour news conference at the White House.
- “But I think he will pay a serious and dear price for it that he doesn’t think now will cost him what it’s going to cost him. And I think he will regret having done it.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who recently arrived in Ukraine, said Russia could attack Ukraine on “very short notice.”
- “I strongly, strongly hope that we can keep this on a diplomatic and peaceful path, but ultimately, that’s going to be President Putin’s decision,” he said.