DISINFO: Europe back to the Stone Age as it lost €1 trillion for rejecting Russia’s gas
SUMMARY
Europe is back to the Stone Age. The losses to the European economy due to the reduction in Russian natural gas supplies now exceed 1 trillion euros. This is important because we have a figure for the European Union.
RESPONSE
The claim is demonstrably false. The figure is unverifiable and very possibly made up, as no original source, timeframe, or any other measurable parameters are provided. The allegation was originally made in January 2025 and has been repeated since then by pro-Kremlin disinformation. Talking about unsubstantiated claims as if they were established facts while introducing minor variations, as in this case, is a frequent pro-Kremlin disinformation technique.
Claims about Europe “returning to the Stone Age” are a massive exaggeration aimed to magnify its alleged economic difficulties and present an apocalyptic image of the situation, while advancing a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about an imminent collapse. While Europe’s economic growth has slowed down compared to the early years of the decade, with the EU’s GDP growth falling from 6.01% in 2021 to 3.48% in 2022 to 0.45% in 2023, it started to slowly grow again in 2024 to 0.9% and is projected to reach 1.1% in 2025 and 1.6% in 2026. If the current trajectory remains, the EU will end 2025 being the second biggest economic powerhouse in the world with a combined GDP of 19.99 thousand billion dollars, above China and only behind the US.
This is part of what some experts have labelled Russia’s economic war propaganda, aimed at convincing the world about the futility of the sanctions against Russia and the need to remove them as they only harm the countries imposing them.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Europe is committing energy suicide without Russia, that instead of crushing Russia, sanctions led to US debt and Europe’s freezing, that according to the Draghi report, EU faces economic difficulties due to rejection of Russian energy, or that a potential ban on Russian LNG supplies would cost the EU one-fifth of imports.