The Kremlin has indignantly denied accusations that Russia was behind the sabotage of the Baltic Sea pipelines. Just as Putin also claims that Russia has not started a war in Ukraine. Or his country does not attack civilian targets in Ukraine.
Putin has also called the accusation “a load of nonsense” that Moscow is using energy as a weapon. And anyway, before the attack on Ukraine, Putin and his Foreign Minister Lavrov dismissed any intention in this direction as malicious speculation. These days they claim that in the sham referendums in eastern Ukraine everyone is in favor of joining Russia. The list of lies could go on.
Where is Russia’s composure?
If the Russian government now denies any responsibility for the “incidents” in the Baltic Sea, nobody has to and will not take it seriously. This leadership has long since lost the last remnant of credibility or seriousness. All that remains is the fear of losing power, the prospect of losing the war against Ukraine and being held accountable for one’s own crimes. Fear expressed in hysterical screams and wild threats directed at the West. If Russia is so sure of its victory against the civilized world, where is the composure?
DW chief correspondent Miodrag Soric
On the battlefield, things are not going as planned by Moscow. On the contrary. A small but highly motivated army compared to Russia demonstrates Moscow’s military apparatus. The whole world – including China – is watching. By doing this alone, Putin has inflicted lasting damage on Russia’s authority: if Ukrainian soldiers are superior to the Russian military, how much more so is this true of China, Turkey, or many other countries? Putin’s long-standing aspiration to at least be perceived militarily on an equal footing with the United States has evaporated in the air in eastern Ukraine.
Who benefits?
Since it will be weeks before we know more about the background to the act of sabotage against the gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, we can only speculate. Who benefits from this deed? Certainly not Europe. But not the US either. Because with Putin’s attack on Ukraine, the Americans had achieved their goal: Russia’s aggression turned the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from a transatlantic bone of contention to scrap steel on the bottom of the sea.
In the meantime, Europe is doing everything possible to reduce supplies of raw materials from Russia – if possible to zero. After initial efforts, the Europeans will succeed. Sure: You will pay a high price for it economically. Your wealth will decrease. But they will be able to get over that.
Russia does not produce anything marketable
Things are looking even worse for Moscow. Russia lives from the sale of raw materials – because of the pipeline routes, especially to Europe. What are the Russians supposed to live on if the West no longer wants oil, gas, gold, nickel and other raw materials – even if they are cheaper than on the world market? Russia does not produce anything that it can sell abroad. Putin’s government has proved for 20 years that it cannot modernize the domestic economy.
After this winter, Russia’s economic prospects are bleak: Europe will buy LNG gas from the US, Norway, Qatar and other countries. There is enough oil in North Africa and in many Arab countries. Moscow’s announced reorientation towards the Asian markets will take decades. You don’t have to be a prophet to already predict that this goal of the Russian leadership is also a mirage.
Pipelines in the Baltic Sea
extortion as a way out
So what to do? Try once again to blackmail the West! Now Russia has presumably attacked its own pipelines – those of Gazprom. But the message to Europe is: Next time it could be the ones from Norway to Poland or the ones from Africa to Italy – Moscow’s submarines can strike anywhere!
Ultimately, the West must not and will not allow itself to be blackmailed. NATO is not defenseless. The need to defend critical infrastructure is another reason for drastically increasing defense budgets in Western countries. Also, so that their warships and submarines can have a stronger presence in the Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic and the Black Sea.
