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　　As Russia continues to raise its natural gasprices to Ukraine, some people are looking toAmerican gas as a way to ease Europe's energydependence on Russia. But it's a solution that'sstill several years off.

　　In their home near Kyiv, Svetlana Kuleshova and Yuri Kuleshov are paying the price for moreexpensive Russian gas.

　　"It will directly affect our budget. We will simply stop buying all the things we are buying now,"the pensioner explained, "because in any case we will be forced to pay the gas bill as we have toat least heat the house in order not to freeze. We will start looking for alternatives, of course.

　　Their worry is familiar to many Europeans. Ukraine and six other European countries get all theirgas from Russia.

　　Meanwhile, threats of Western economic sanctions against Russia have been shrugged off.Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov says Moscow can find other places to sell itsgas and that will cost Europe even more.

　　"It will force Europeans to invest in new infrastructure to buy gas from the United States andother parts of the world. You will pay for this more," noted Shuvalov. "It will mean that theconsumers will pay more, but Russian gas will be consumed by someone else in other regions ofthe world.

　　Problem solved?

　　American natural gas, flowing through terminals located in various locations including theEastern U.S. state of Maryland, could help solve the problem...but not yet.

　　A new section of the plant to enable the Maryland facility to liquefy natural gas and ship itoverseas won't be ready until late 2017. Other plants being built are on a similar timeline.

　　And when it does open, the terminal will send all its gas to India and Japan.

　　Energy expert Paul Bledsoe, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States,says the U.S. will not be Europe's first new source of gas.

　　"The first places are going to be a southern pipeline from Central Asia, from North Africa andfrom their own resources," Bledsoe explained. "What we're talking about, though, is broadeningthe available resources globally for gas generally, essentially globalizing the natural gasmarket.

　　Bledsoe says Washington should expedite applications by European countries to import U.S.gas and help Europe develop its own gas from shale.

　　"What we're really calling for is a joint U.S.-EU plan on natural gas, to diversify the sources ofgas for Europe, to reduce long-term prices, to cut emissions and cut dependence on Russia.There's a tremendous opportunity here," he said.

　　When that happens, both Europe and America will benefit, according to energy writer andprofessor Steve LeVine.

　　"The impact of putting [exporting] all this gas, and the signal that it's sending, is going to beto increase U.S. influence in the world, geopolitical influence from this natural gas," he said.

　　Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to LeVine, will then have to sell natural gas to China,which will insist on a lower price.