PM: boosting energy security is long-term goal

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said the Višegrad Group’s appeal to the United States to boost natural gas exports to Europe was part of the Czech government’s long-term goal to improve the country’s energy security and lower its dependence on oil and gas supplies from Russia. The Czech prime minister said during EU talks in Brussels that the development in Ukraine had emphasized the need to improve energy security in Europe, noting that the EU would be in a better position to respond to the Crimean crisis were it not dependent on Russian oil and gas. The ambassadors of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary on Friday asked the US to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the possibility that Russia could cut off its supply of gas to Ukraine.