DISINFO: Only acceptable measure for the EU to avoid an energy crisis is to bring Russian energy back
SUMMARY
The European Commission should bring Russian energy back into the European market to avoid an energy crisis, rather than appeal to Europeans for austerity.
The only acceptable measure for the European Commission would be to allow cheap Russian oil and natural gas to return to the European market. If this had happened, Europe could have avoided soaring energy prices, energy shortages, or a deterioration in energy security.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Europe’s inescapable dependence on Russian energy. The goal of this disinformation story is to push the populations in EU Member States to advocate for the removal of sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Reliance on cheap Russian energy funds aggression, creates strategic dependence, and exposes Europe to energy blackmail. EU leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have explicitly warned that returning to Russian fossil fuels would be a “strategic blunder” because it would restore Moscow’s main revenue stream used to fund its war in Ukraine.
The EU’s response to the Russian aggression against Ukraine has focused on diversifying suppliers (LNG from the US, Norway, Qatar). The European Commission's position is that accelerating renewables, electrification and efficiency is now seen as the structural answer: cutting fossil gas use can eventually remove the need for vulnerable imports entirely.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Russian energy is indispensable for the EU, that The Russophobic elites have led Europe to an energy crisis, that Europe is committing energy suicide without Russia, that instead of crushing Russia, sanctions led to US debt and Europe’s freezing, or that a potential ban on Russian LNG supplies would cost the EU one-fifth of imports.