Tsivilev pointed out the importance of affordable energy for industrial changes

Affordable energy is the basis for any development, including it provides an opportunity to radically change the entire industry. This was stated on June 19 by Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev at the session "Russia in the Context of International Energy Justice: the Role and Global Challenges" at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2025).

The Minister noted the importance of understanding the principles of the current energy transition, explaining them using the example of the fertilizer situation. He called Russia one of the largest producers of mineral fertilizers, which Europe, Africa and even America need. Russian fertilizers make agricultural products cheaper and more affordable, Tsivilev added.

Despite this, the supply of such minerals from the Russian Federation is blocked by sanctions. This leads to the fact that countries are forced to buy more expensive fertilizers from other producers. Because of this, the cost of food increases, and the availability of food decreases.

"Is this justice? No, it is not," said Tsivilev.

According to him, if Russia does not build a future energy sector, the world will continue to be divided into rich and poor states. Then the difference between the standard of living in these countries will grow at an accelerated pace. As Tsivilev noted, in this case there will be much more poor states.

"And rich countries will dictate their terms to everyone else. All this will happen primarily through the energy sector," he added.

The Minister is confident that cheap and affordable energy represents a chance for a complete change in industry and lifestyle. He called the process of artificial intelligence development one of the most striking examples.

"If we do not provide all countries of the world with cheap and affordable electricity, but only a small group of countries, this means that all artificial intelligence, all data centers will be built only in these countries. Imagine what will happen when all technologies are concentrated in one group of countries. They will dominate the whole world," said Tsivilev.

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Earlier, on June 16, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Peter Szijjarto said that the European Commission's (EC) plan to abandon Russian energy resources, developed under pressure from Ukraine, would harm the interests of the entire European Union. According to him, the head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen proposed this in order to deprive Hungary and the whole of Europe of Russian energy.