Gas War: Russia cuts Europe's gas supply

 

Europe is under attack Russia is waging

an economic war Russian gas supplies to

Europe are down by 80 percent

Russia could single-handedly push Europe

into recession

this gas war threatens governments and

leaders in the EU and Europe has

virtually no defense today Russia

announced more supply cuts the Europeans

saw this coming but that does not make

their situation any better earlier this

month Russia shut off the north stream

pipeline they said it was for

maintenance Europe feared the supplies

will not resume they did but now Russia

has struck another blow it has cut

supplies further in fact these cuts

began last month quick primer Russia

supplies gas to Europe through nod

stream one

it's a gas pipeline it is operated by

Russia's state-owned company Gazprom

until yesterday north stream one was

operating at just 40 percent of its

capacity

today Russia has reduced it by half

meaning this pipeline is now operating

at just 20 percent of its capacities

let me repeat that from 100 before the

war it went down to 40

and now it has fallen to 20 so Europe

has now lost 80 percent of its supply

from Russia

and this is bad news whichever way you

look at it

Russia made up

more than 40 percent of Europe's natural

gas needs

that's what Russia supplied

now it accounts for just 15

the north stream is Russia's biggest

pipeline last year it delivered more

than a third of European gas imports but

now the supply from Russia is as good as gone

the question is why has Moscow taken the step

to build pressure to strike a blow

Russia says it is not getting the parts

it needs for the pipeline to function

and for that it blames western sanctions

so the message is clear if you want

Russian gas lift the sanctions

Russia is not interested in stopping gas

supplies to Europe Russia is a

responsible supplier of gas and whoever

says what being the European commission

European capital cities united states of

America Russia was is and remains a

country that in no small way guarantees

Europe's energy security and not just

verbally but de facto

on the other hand if Europe

continues to

move along this path of recklessly

introducing limitations and sanctions

which hit right back at themselves then

the situation here would be a different

one

that statement slash threat from the

kremlin came yesterday today Russia has

walked the talk

who is hurt the most Germany

the other one's feeling the biggest

impact Germany still depends on Russia

for around a third of its supplies but

now they'll have to do with less Russian

gas

who else is affected Poland Bulgaria

Finland Denmark the Netherlands Italy

France Austria Slovakia and the Czech

republic all of these countries have

either suffered partial cuts or

completely lost Russian gas supply

what will be the economic impact of

these cuts

in one word dire leading European

economies could be pushed into recession

if Russia completely stops supply

Hungary's economic output will decline

by six and a half percent Italy will

lose 5.7 percent Austria and Germany

almost three percent each and that's why

the Russian cuts are worrying

they could plunge Europe into a deep

recession Germany has launched a fierce

attack on Russia it says there is no

technical reason for Russia to cut

supplies

this is what the German economy minister

said

to draw a line i think it's an important

very important next step it shows that

Europe stays united that Europe is able

to find unique

unity and um giving a strong signal also

um in the day where the flows of gas in

nostrum one are reduced and to another

twenty percent uh to Putin and to Russia

you won't split us

you won't split us he says

so berlin is banking on European unity

and it doesn't look like a very bright

idea and I'll tell you why today an

important meeting took place in brussels

energy ministers from European union

states met they reached a deal to ration

gas

remember we told you about this proposal

the EU has proposed cuts on gas

consumption all countries will reduce

consumption they proposed what is now

called the 15 rule 1 5 15 that's how

much they proposed to cut

European countries were asked to reduce

their gas usage by 15

for now these cuts will be voluntary but

if push comes to shove brussels wanted

the power to enforce these cuts

the EU leadership did not get the deal

they wanted

their proposals have been substantially

watered down they've had to exempt a

large number of industries

plus they've given some countries a back

door under certain circumstances these

countries can be exempted from the 15

percent rule

so the EU's plan is not really binding

and that's because a number of countries

were opposed to rationing

Spain and Portugal for example they

don't really depend on Russian gas so

they don't want to ration gas and hurt

their economies

then we have Poland it was opposed to

the 15 plan because its storage is

almost full Poland has a good reserve

supply it says the EU's proposal to

ration gas is quote unquote totally

against the idea of energy security and

democracy

Greece Cyprus Malta and Ireland have

also rejected mandatory rationing

Hungary is on different trajectory

altogether it wants to buy more Russian

gas recently the Hungarian foreign

minister was in Moscow he was trying to

secure another one billion cubic meters

of Russian natural gas

so long story short Europe is divided

and Russia is hitting it where it hurts

the most

Russia is cutting gas supplies and

European nations don't want to cut

consumption Ukraine is calling it a gas

war

listen to what president president

Vladimir Zaleski said

today we saw new gas threats to Europe

despite the north stream turbine

concession Russia is not planning to

resume gas supply to European countries

as it is obliged to do under a contract

this is all done by Russia on purpose to

make it as difficult as possible for

Europeans to prepare for winter and this

is an open gas war that Russia is waging

against the united Europe this is

precisely how it should be perceived

there's no doubt Russia is waging an

economic war on Europe it is weaponizing

gas supplies but remember Europe too

targeted Russia with sanctions

and this is war when you attack you must

prepare for a counter-attack

so what has Europe done to save itself

does it have alternatives can it get gas

from elsewhere well it does have some

options option number one is the united

states Europe could buy gas from the us

but American supplies are going to be

expensive

transportation is the big challenge

there is no gas pipeline between America

and Europe

so the gas needs to be transported in

liquid form via ships

and that ends up being more expensive

option number two is Norway and other

Beijing they could supply gas Europe

already has agreements in place but do

Norway and Azerbaijan have enough supply

experts say they don't not immediately

at least

they won't be able to fill the gap left

behind by Russia

and that's why Europe is stuck

it needs alternatives to Russian gas its

options are limited and less than ideal

and it is running out of time a cold

winter and a deep recession

are around the corner of EU countries.