At the same time as Russia has targeted railway lines as part of the effort to block U.S. arms shipments into Eastern Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has now followed through on the previous warning to stop Russian gas supplies unless payments are made in non-sanctioned Rubles.
Poland is obviously the primary target for retaliation here, as the NATO alliance is using Poland as the gateway for arms deliveries into Ukraine.
According to multiple reports from the EU Russia has halted gas shipments into Poland and Bulgaria. (Reuters) “Gazprom Russia’s gas export monopoly, suspended gas supplies “due to absence of payments in roubles”, as stipulated in a decree from Russian President Vladimir Putin that aims to soften the impact of sanctions.”
There are conflicting reports as to whether Germany is paying Russia, or whether they are trying to avoid running afoul of the NATO alliance by reducing Russian imports.
Ukraine President Zelenskyy is using the opportunity to reinforce his position that all European countries need to stop purchasing energy from Russia, or else they are not supporting Ukraine. However, it’s not as simple as it seems because multiple EU countries are dependent on Russia for energy products and there are no immediate alternatives. Russia is leveraging this dependency in an effort to break the western sanctions.
(NBC) – […] After months of threats, the Kremlin cut off gas supplies to two European Union nations Wednesday and warned others could be next. The long-feared move against the continent’s energy supply marks a dramatic escalation of Moscow’s bid to weaken the collective resolve of Ukraine’s allies as they send growing numbers of weapons to help Kyiv fight.
[…] Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom announced Wednesday it had halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland for failing to pay for gas in rubles, something Putin had demanded last month in response to tough sanctions imposed by the West on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. European buyers condemned Putin’s demand, saying it violated existing contracts with payments usually agreed on in dollars or euros, and called into question Russia’s reliability as a supplier.
[…] Russia is one of the world’s largest producers of petroleum and natural gas, and Europe is heavily reliant on imports from Russia for its energy supply. “In 2021, the European Union imported 155 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Russia, accounting for around 45% of EU gas imports and close to 40% of its total gas consumption,” according to a recent report from the International Energy Agency.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria imported more than 70 percent of its natural gas from Russia in 2020, E.U. data showed. In the same year, Poland relied on Russia for around 45 percent of its natural gas.
[…] Notably, the decision to cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria came the day after the United States and its allies gathered in Germany to pledge more heavy weapons for Ukraine as it steels its defenses for what could be a decisive battle in the eastern Donbas region. (read more)
Somehow, on top of the $14+ billion in direct aid to Ukraine, Joe Biden is likely to figure out a way to put the U.S. taxpayer on the hook for most of the EU energy problems in an effort to save face for the White House in a U.S. proxy war against Russia. Both wings of the UniParty congress are likely to support that effort.
FUBAR
(Reuters) – […] So far, it was unclear whether Poland or Bulgaria will comply with Moscow’s demands. Both countries rely heavily on Russian imports via pipeline.
Polish gas company PGNiG, whose gas deal with Russia expires at the end of this year, has repeatedly said it would not comply with the new scheme. It has also said it would not extend the contract. Poland says it does not have to cut supplies to customers. The country can source gas via two links with Germany including a reverse flow on the Yamal pipeline, a link with Lithuania with an annual capacity of 2.5 bcm that will open on May 1 and via an interconnector with the Czech Republic for up to 1.5 bcm.
Bulgaria also had a contract with Gazprom due to expire at the end of the year. The country relies almost completely on Russian gas imports, and has taken steps to find alternative arrangements for supply, its energy ministry said in a statement. Bulgaria consumes about 3 billion cubic metres of gas per year and imports over 90 percent of it from Russia. Previously, Bulgarian Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov had said a counterpart in Sofia could handle transactions in roubles, without giving details. (more)
Lend Lease approved by US legislature for Ukraine. No diplomacy to resolve this. Full scale war over something that could have easily been resolved by talks with the US putting pressure on Ukraine.
https://t.me/cheburashkas_war_room/925
Being the poorest country in Europe, people making $200/week, there is no way Ukraine can reimburse us. But that is the least of our worries.
The ruble is worth more now than before the war. Sanctions work?
https://t.me/cheburashkas_war_room/843
Zelensky advisor wants to open second front https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f1f2-1f1e9.svg
If Transnistria’s own conflict takes off – we can rest assured who is behind it.
Transnistria is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova, but has a pro-Russian population as well as a Russian military presence.
Put your hand up if you believe everything Zelinsky is saying. If he wanted to end the war he wouldn’t have banished all of ‘his’ opposition parties, He would have stepped down and passed the crown to someone else.
Biden has blocked ALL natural gas, gasoline etc. here in the US. However, he is selling gasoline out of our stockpile to foreign countries. He is beyond stupid, and so is the people in his so called Administration.
Stupid yes, but also evil. They are flunkies of the N.W.O. …Globalists and have no allegiance to America,
For most of the past two centuries, the empires of Europe have made every effort to prevent Russia from joining with Europe, and every effort to prevent their participation in trade. Russia spent billions building Nordstream two, for the benefit of Germany and eastern Europe, and the US, Britain, France, have suggested it could be bypassed by “allowing eastern Europe” to depend on US LNG, to be sold at approximately twice the price of the natural gas, formerly supplied by Russia.
For decades, Ukraine has violated agreements, stole gas from other countries, and destroyed its own credibility as a transit Nation, somehow, “Russia is supposed to supply gas, according to contracts, but needn’t be paid in return”, the purpose of sanctions, to prevent Russia from receiving payment for the natural gas, actually supplied.
As a student, I was required to memorize “The Charge of the Light Brigade” in school, while no effort was ever made to educate us as to what it meant. Britain and France invaded Russia, to prevent their equal status “as European”, which has taken place multiple times, “no competition for current regimes” is allowed. Empires still rule the world, and Corporate power is little different today, than two centuries ago. No one needs pay in rubles, they are welcome to pay with money, gold, silver, or even product trade. I have no use for this, or any of the wars I was part of in my two decades as a US Marine. Our government is an open kleptocracy.
Thank you for your comment and for realizing what your service that you tried to do for your country actually meant. I was in the Army for 3 years and National guard for 4 years and it took years afterwards for me to realize who and what I actually served. I feel sorry for the people of Ukraine. They are pawns in an evil game.
It sounds like Poland, Bulgaria and Germany are still in denial of how screwed they are, and they have some crazy pipe dream that they will be rescued from their FUBAR situation. They must all be on the same crazy drugs that Zelenskyy is.
Putin is being nicer than he should be to cut them off for Summer instead of Winter, but I doubt their gas will be back on before Winter, unless they cough up a few billion rubles, a few tons of gold, or find some other gas suppliers to save them from freezing in the dark before then! Lotsa luck with that!