Experts warn that the Russian-Ukraine conflict could impact prices in Central Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. — While the tension in Ukraine is happening thousands of miles away from Central Florida, some experts warn we could still feel its impacts.

Dr. Jeremy Levitt is a law professor at Florida A&M University and has been monitoring the situation between Ukraine and Russia.

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Levitt said there are multiple ways the conflict can have an impact on us in Central Florida and for some, it’s already happening.

“It doesn’t look good,” Levitt said. “There’s an issue of sovereignty itself, rights of trade of oil and gas prices, Americans should already be seeing about a 20% increase per gallon of gas because of the crisis, and it’s only going to exponentially increase.”

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Levitt said there will be a trickle-down effect from German troops to the American taxpayer.

“We’re going to have to re-imburse Germany. We’ve already made commitments to do that. We would have to pay for the gas of German troops and buy off Germany,” Levitt said.

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Levitt stated that at this point, he believes the two countries need to reach a diplomatic solution and added Ukraine should join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the future.

“The best solution is for Russia to back down. To make its point then back down. Nobody wants to see a war,” Levitt concluded.

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Russia is not currently part of NATO.

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