The United States is ready, in the event of a Russian attack on Ukraine, to ban the export of American technology to Russia, a senior White House official said on Tuesday (January 25th).
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“The export control options we are considering with our allies would be a major blow to (Vladimir) Putin's ambitions to industrialize his economy and it would affect areas that are important to him, for example artificial intelligence, quantum computers , defence, aerospace and other key sectors,” he said.
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The United States and the Europeans have taken steps to protect Europe's natural gas supplies if ever Russia decides, in the event of an open conflict, to turn off the tap, the senior White House official also said. .
He also warned Moscow against any "instrumentalization" of its hydrocarbon sales: Russia "needs gas and oil revenues at least as much as Europe needs its energy supplies".
