New Nation Report :
In an interview with PBS of US, former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov stated that corrupt politicians in Germany signed energy contracts with Russia in exchange for personal financial favors. These contracts have made Germany reliant on Putin and placed the sovereignty of parts of Europe at risk.
Germany imports 55% of its gas requirement today from Russia; despite rogue nation’s annexation of Crimea in March of 2014.
The new chancellor, suspended the recently completed gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2 capable of carrying 55 BCM of gas annually directly to Germany from Russia. This new addition if approved would raise Germany’s reliance on Russian gas to over 70%.
EU sources around 40% of its gas needs from Russia today with some countries, such as Finland, sourcing over 70% of their gas needs from the former Soviet Union.
With most of its industries faltering for decades, Russia relies heavily on its energy exports to sustain its economy. The west in fact has been emboldening Putin through these energy trades for several decades.
“I have been saying all along that it’s not about tanks, its about banks”, said Kasparov pertaining to strategic response options of the West at this point during the interview conducted by world-famous biographer Walter Isaacson.
The West needs to cutoff Russia as an energy source and sanction oligarchs, senior government and military personnel, Kasparov stressed. He believes, large Russian forex reserves will dry up fairly quickly without oil and gas exports because the large military needs to be fed continuously.
The new German chancellor, Olaf Scholz who has been in power since December, 2021 has taken a u-turn recently and froze the approval of Nord Stream 2 pipeline. In a major shift of German policy, the country also pledged to support Ukraine through significant supply of arms and ammunition.
The German government has also decided to fast-track two LNG terminal projects to further cut down reliance on Russian gas in the long-term. At the same time, the German government is expediting the continuing transition to renewable energy. Currently, Germany sources 40% of its energy from renewables.
A shift away of EU from Russian oil and gas will be absolutely devastating for Russia, which relies heavily on the associated forex to feed its massive military apparatus.
