Russian gas giant in ‘ice age’ winter warning to Europe
RUSSIAN state energy giant Gazprom warned Europe ‘an ice age is coming’ in a chilling propaganda video boasting about how Moscow is weaponising gas supplies.
The short film, entitled ‘It’s going to be a long winter’, shows an employee of the Kremlin-backed firm literally turning off taps at one of its facilities in Russia.
Released late on Monday, the two-minute video comes after Gazprom confirmed it would not reopen the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline – which supplies Europe – until western sanctions on Russia are lifted.
The video also shows icy clouds drifting over snow- covered European capitals, including London and Paris, hinting at a grim energy crisis that could hit the continent later this year. The footage serves as yet more confirmation of how Vladimir Putin is hoping to bully the West into accepting its territorial gains in Ukraine.
In an apparent response to the video, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba slammed Russia for its ‘energy blackmail’.
Kyiv’s top diplomat said: ‘Pacifying Putin... is a deal with the devil which will bring neither peace nor stability.’ Before the war started, just over 40 per cent of the EU’s natural gas came from Russia. Brussels is now looking to slap those exports with a ‘quasi-sanction’ price cap, as well as sourcing supplies from elsewhere.
Meanwhile, research shows Russia has raked in more than £135billion from energy exports since it invaded Ukraine.
A study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Finnish think tank, said the EU was the biggest importer of Russian fossil fuels, sending nearly £73billion to Moscow over the past six months. It said a surge in prices has boosted the Kremlin’s revenues, despite a drop in exports.
It comes as UN inspectors warned last night that a safe zone is urgently needed
‘This is energy blackmail’
around Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in Ukraine to prevent atomic disaster.
Shelling of the Zaporizhzhia plant, which is occupied by the Russians, has left holes in the roof and windows blown out, officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed after a whistlestop trip to the facility last week.
Without accusing either Kyiv or Moscow, the IAEA said continued fighting around the plant ‘may lead to radiological consequences with great safety significance’.