The US Navy is capable of organizing a naval blockade of Russia in the Middle East to prevent its control over energy supplies in the region. This was announced by US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke at an industrial event organized by the Energy Consumers Alliance in Pittsburgh, PA.

His remarks are quoted on Friday, September 28, on their website by the American weekly The Washington Examiner, notes DW.

"The United States has the opportunity, with the help of our fleet, to guarantee freedom of movement on sea routes, and also, if necessary, block them ... to make sure that Russian energy resources" do not enter the market, "Zinke stressed.

The head of the US Interior Ministry explained that fracking - the extraction of oil or gas by hydraulic fracturing - and the shale coup in the US energy sector gave Washington an advantage over Russia and Iran, weakening the dependence of the United States on foreign energy supplies.

“Russia has a one-sided approach,” Ryan Zinke noted, adding that Moscow’s presence in the Middle East is explained by the latter’s desire to distribute energy supplies in the region - just like Russia does in Eastern Europe.

On the European market, the US has repeatedly warned Moscow about possible sanctions against the consortium members who are building the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

This is a project worth 9.5 billion euros, which is half financed by Russian Gazprom and by half - five European energy concerns, including the subsidiary of the German BASF concern - Wintershall.

Against the initiative, the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, as well as the USA.