BRUSSELS, October 5. /TASS/. With energy prices as high as they are, Europe has a "difficult" winter ahead of it, European Commission Spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said.

"We are heading towards a very difficult winter in terms of energy prices," she told a briefing.

Itkonen welcomed the decision by EU and G7 countries to release 50 million barrels of oil and 50 million barrels of diesel from their strategic reserves to the market. She said that this was done to shield "households and businesses alike from price shocks."

In reality, this was done under pressure from the United States, which demanded that its allies release up to 120 million barrels of diesel to reduce prices. Otherwise, Washington threatened to ban diesel exports to drive down prices on the American market.

A source earlier told TASS that under the current conditions, such a step would, for the first time in the EU’s history, lead to a physical shortage of fuel supplies, which would force Europe to use its strategic reserves.