DISINFO: Russian energy is indispensable for the EU
SUMMARY
West erred in strategy, Russian energy resources are indispensable. Despite the sanctions, Russia managed to maintain internal stability and the strength of its national currency, and continued to export oil, while countries that broke their economic ties with it suffered the most.
Europe's strategic analysis proved to be wrong and caused numerous crises. Europe realised this too late, by putting its economy at the service of a lost war in Ukraine, which damaged its relations with Russia. The EU will be the big loser in this confrontation, especially because it has lost its autonomy in making political decisions on the international stage.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Europe’s inescapable dependence on Russian energy. By painting an apocalyptic landscape, 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.
This story appeared in the context of Washington issuing a 30‑day waiver allowing countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products that were already stranded at sea, i.e. cargoes loaded on tankers by a specific date, after the Iran war sent oil prices soaring. This is a narrow, temporary relaxation on a subset of shipments, not a general lifting of sanctions on Russian exports, companies or banks.
The war in Iran and the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz have pushed Brent oil above $ 100 and driven sharp jumps in European gas benchmarks.
Europe is much better prepared than in 2022 and is using a mix of emergency coordination, alternative supplies, demand reduction and faster transition away from fossil fuels to cope. 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.
The EU's decisions to impose sanctions on Russia, support Ukraine and re‑wire its energy system were taken through its own institutions and member‑state governments in line with long‑standing policy goals.
The EU slashed its dependence on Russian pipeline gas from over 40% of its supply in 2021 to a small fraction by 2023 by switching to LNG, diversifying suppliers, and cutting demand. Likewise, the EU's imports of Russian crude oil fell by 90% since the invasion. Russia accounted for less than 3% of the extra-EU petroleum oil import value in the first quarter of 2024. For the EU, a significant number of countries, including the US, Norway, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Azerbaijan, are now major oil suppliers.
European officials emphasise that “solving” this crisis by going back to Russian fossil fuels would recreate the same geopolitical dependence and directly fund Russia’s war.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims 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, that according to the Draghi report, the 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.