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‘War won’t end if we stop buying Russian oil and gas’

The Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Store, has told the 鶹ҳ Hardtalk programme that war in Ukraine would not end if European countries stopped buying Russian oil and gas.

“Making this assumption that if there was no buying of Russian oil it would be over at the battlefield - unfortunately that is not the case with this president in Moscow,” Mr Store said.

“There is humanitarian aid coming in. There is financial pressure put on Russia. And there has to be support and messages to Ukraine that we will help rebuild Ukraine once this war is over. And we still have to hope that it's not a war that Russia is going to win,” he said.

The European Commission has outlined plans to cut gas imports from Russia by two-thirds before the end of the year.

The European Union is heavily reliant on Russian fossil fuels - 40% of its gas and 27% of its oil is imported from Russia.

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