The US leader is a businessman who wants to ensure the economic interests of his country, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said

US President Donald Trump is pushing other nations to buy American oil and gas to protect US interests, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, explaining Trump's demand for the EU to stop importing Russian energy. The move shows Trump is first and foremost "a businessman," Peskov added.

The remarks came in response to Trump's repeated calls for European NATO members to stop buying Russian oil and gas, which he tied to potential new US sanctions against Moscow. Trump reiterated the demand in a speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, warning he was "fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs" on Russia's trade partners unless his call is met or Moscow moves to make a deal to end the Ukraine conflict.

"Trump has never hidden his intention to secure US economic interests. The simplest way is to force the entire world to pay more for American oil and LNG," Peskov told Russian daily RBK on Wednesday. "He is a businessman, who wants Europeans to buy small crayfish for five rubles instead of large ones for three," he added, citing a famous satirist. "It's just a question of economic feasibility."

Peskov said Trump has "already largely succeeded" in steering the EU toward US energy, but warned the shift has strained state budgets and "the pockets of European taxpayers." He stressed that Russia, meanwhile, has not suffered much from the change, having redirected its energy flows to markets such as China and India.

The EU has drastically reduced reliance on Russian energy since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and plans to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027, although some states still rely on Russian energy. Hungary and Slovakia remain the largest buyers, and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto reiterated on Tuesday that Budapest cannot switch suppliers due to infrastructure and contracts.

READ MORE: EU state pledges to keep buying Russian energy

Moscow, which deems Western sanctions illegal, has called US demands to halt Russian energy "threats," warning they would undermine EU security and drive up costs through intermediaries.

(RT.com)