Energy war between Russia and the EU: what threatens Europe of Russia with gas counter-sanctions
- Alexey Kalmykov
- BBC
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Russia introduced a proposal against the United States of America, through which Gazprom supplied gas for consumption, and thereby raised the stakes in the war with Europe, which escalated after the invasion of Ukraine. Germany, the eastern industrial power and the main consumer of Russian energy resources in the EU, took the first blow of the counter-sanction.
She easily dealt with it, however, qualified officials have suspicions that the goal was not tactical, strategic, and the Kremlin planted a time bomb for an application that is 40% dependent on Russian gas.
The energy war began before the gas was released into the EU, and prices fell to unprecedented heights. And as soon as the bombs fell on Ukrainian cities, the EU abandoned Russian coal, was going to cut gas purchases from Russia by two-thirds by the end of the year, and almost agreed on an embargo on Russian oil.
In the response of President Vladimir Putin from a European bank for gas on an account in the Russian Gazprombank with the mandatory conversion of euros into rubles, and gas was turned off for refuseniks in Poland and Bulgaria. Ukraine, restrictive Russian transit to Europe through the occupied territories.
In the evening of the same day, the Russian government complied with Putin’s decree of May 3 and published list of companiesagainst which counter-sanctions come into effect. The companies Gazprom Germania and EuRoPol GAZ got into it.
“The decree contains very targeted and innovative penalties. It allows the preservation of trade relations with Germany, but not on the same terms,” summed up the first results Klaus Müller.
two hares
Trading companies were subject to counter-sanctions, but they did not affect gas transportation companies. They can be easily circumvented if the Germans buy Russian gas directly or through other traders. However, this involves renegotiating contracts.
Putin thus kills two birds with one stone. First, its price losses in Europe are breaking records, so new ones may be less profitable than previous ones. And secondly, the new contracts can include purchases through Gazprombank, which is preferable for Russia on the terms of freezing the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the central bank.
EuRoPol GAZ – also under state sanctions – is the owner of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline from Russia through Belarus and Poland to Germany. True, the gas pipeline with a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters per year (about a third of all possible options in the EU) has been operating in reverse mode for many weeks and is pumping far from Russian gas from Germany to Poland, which was cut off by Gazprom in the past.
“Earlier, the Polish side repeatedly violated the rights of Gazprom as a shareholder of EuRoPol GAZ, and on April 26, 2022, Gazprom entered the sanctions list, blocking the company’s ability to develop rights to shares and other securities of EuRoPol GAZ and receiving dividends,” he said. Gazprom on Thursday, commenting on the decision to impose sanctions against its joint venture with the Polish PGNiG.
Under arrest were also the largest German underground storage facility of Gazprom for 4 billion cubic meters and the trader Wingas.
All this will deprive Germany of about 3% of daily imports, said Economics Minister Robert Habeck. These losses are easily compensated for by other sources worthy of attention. In addition, Germany continues to receive Russian gas through the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea.
An escalation of the outlook is inevitable: Europe is preparing a new resolution against Russia, the Kremlin’s main export and source of income. The EU is easier than from gas.
And for Russia – on the contrary, therefore the gas attack on Europe is the most successful Russian weapon in the economic war with the EU. And counter-sanctions are confirmation that Putin is sensitive to its use.