Colombian President Ivan Duque. File photoMEXICO CITY, Apr 14Colombia is ready to increase coal and hydrocarbon production to replace Russian energy resources in the markets of Western countries, President Ivan Duque said in an interview with CNN. «(USA and Europe) know for sure that they can no longer depend on energy supplies from Russia. Can Colombia contribute to solving this problem? The answer is yes,» Duque said.Norway will increase gas production for supplies to European countriesAccording to the Colombian leader, they are ready to increase the production of oil and gas, hydrogen and coal, the latter immediately. «Colombia can immediately increase coal production … We have one of the largest reserves in the world, and we we use them,” said the president. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on April 7 that Germany would stop importing coal from Russia within 120 days. This statement was preceded by negotiations between Scholz and Duque, which included the topic of coal supplies. The fifth package of EU sanctions against the Russian Federation, agreed earlier, provides for a gradual phasing out of Russian coal imports. The EU countries, among other things, are introducing a complete ban on its supplies starting in August. Western countries have imposed numerous sanctions in response to the special operation of the Russian Federation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. A number of companies announced their withdrawal from the Russian market and the closure of production facilities in the country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that Western companies that refuse to work with Russia did so under enormous pressure, but Russia will solve all the problems with the economy that the West creates for it. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» To this end, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine» bloody crimes against civilians» of Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, as of March 25, they have completed the main tasks of the first stage — they have significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
