Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, due to the continuous escalation of sanctions on Russia by the EU , this move not only led to further deterioration of Russia-EU relations, but also affected by the backlash of sanctions, many European countries have recently fallen into a serious energy crisis. As winter approaches and panic continues to spread, Europe not only fails to find ways to ease relations with Russia, but Germany instead accuses Europe of facing the energy crisis because Russia uses natural gas as a countermeasure.
In view of this, according to Global Network , on September 16 local time, Russian President Putin said when attending the SCO summit that the West accused Russia of causing the current European energy crisis, which is completely "blame the blame" because the energy crisis had already occurred in Europe before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Putin also said that if the EU wants to obtain more natural gas, it should lift sanctions that hinder the opening of the " Nord Stream-2" pipeline. Reuters reported that Putin made the above statement to reporters after the SCO summit held in Uzbekistan . Putin told reporters: "If Europe finds this winter very difficult, then it is only necessary to lift the sanctions on the Nord Stream-2, which is 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. As long as the button is pressed, everything will start."
It is understood that the Nord Stream-2 is a pipeline for Russia to transport natural gas to Germany and other European countries through the Baltic , and it was completed last year. But a few days before Russia launched a special military operation in February this year, Germany decided to suspend its certification and refused to let it go. Currently, Russia only has the "North Stream-1" pipeline to Europe. However, at the beginning of this month, Gazpromise Corporation (Gasoline) completely closed the " North Stream-1" natural gas pipeline on the grounds that it discovered that there were multiple faults in the equipment. Although Russia stated that it would supply gas immediately after the troubleshooting was eliminated, many countries were still skeptical of Russia's re-supply of gas.
Reuters pointed out that with the decline in Russia's supply, European natural gas prices have more than doubled compared with the beginning of the year, not only affecting ordinary consumers, but also forcing some industries to stop production. At present, due to energy shortage, Europe has begun to become a mess, especially Germany, which is the "locomotive" of the EU, is in economic difficulties due to energy shortage. Data from the German Federal Statistics Office in recent months showed that soaring energy prices are the main driving force for the rising inflation in Germany.
Reuters predicts that the German economy may shrink for three consecutive quarters starting this quarter, based on a recent survey of economists. If the German economy falls into recession, it will bring a chain reaction to the entire Europe. Affected by this news, starting from the 3rd of this month, large-scale protests broke out in many European countries, including Czech , Germany and France. In addition to demanding the government lift sanctions on Russia, protesters also called on the government to stop providing weapons to Ukraine .
Although the German government announced a 65 billion euro energy cost reduction plan not long ago, Klaus Miller, director of the Federal Network Bureau of the German energy regulator, recently warned that once Russian natural gas is completely "stolen", even if Germany has 100% of its gas reserves, it will be exhausted within two and a half months. At that time, large-scale riots may occur in Germany, which may even affect Germany's social stability. It is certain that Europe will be tested in the coming months. After the extreme high temperatures that swept across the continent this summer, Europeans may face a colder winter. If the EU cannot come up with effective methods, not only Germany, but Europe will be in chaos.
