EU Wants to Reduce “Blood-Tainted” Russian Gas by Importing Blood-Tainted Gas From Azerbaijan

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Paul Antonopoulos, independent geopolitical analyst.

Gazprom suspended gas supplies to Bulgarian company Bulgargaz and Poland’s PGNiG on April 27 for non-payment in rubles. Poland and Bulgaria insist that payments in rubles does not correspond to the terms of the contract signed with Gazprom. At the same time, the West seeks to reduce its dependence on Russian energy as it is, in their words, tainted with the blood of Ukrainians. Yet, one way in achieving this reduction is by increasing imports from Azerbaijan, thus making a mockery of the argument that dependence on Russian energy must be eliminated because of its illiberalism.

For Russia, cutting off Bulgaria means a loss of 5% of exports. For Bulgaria though, it means the country has lost the source for 75% of its natural gas. Meanwhile, Poland received more than half of its gas from Russia.

The two countries will not be able to find another natural gas supplier in the interim and although Poland has a liquefied natural gas processing terminal, both its capacity and the available amount of this gas is nowhere near sufficient. Despite all this, both Poland and Bulgaria will continue to receive Russian gas, although at a much higher price as it will be re-exported from Germany and Turkey.

Meanwhile, the European Commission officially confirmed that the payment of Russian gas for the scheme announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin does not constitute a violation of sanctions. In fact, countries like Hungary have already agreed to make payments in rubles.

None-the-less, according to European Council chief Charles Michel on Twitter: “Gazprom’s decision to cut gas supplies to some EU Member States is another aggressive unilateral move by Russia. We will remain united and support each other while phasing out Russian energy imports.”

After Russia halted deliveries for non-payment in rubles, gas exchange prices in Europe rose to $1,370 per 1,000 cubic meters, which is a third higher compared to February 23. This transition to payment in rubles for Russian gas is the natural result of hostile economic measures against Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the accusations by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that paying for Russian gas in rubles is blackmail. It is recalled that at the end of March, Putin announced that hostile countries, including the 27 EU member states, will have to pay for gas in rubles. Therefore, it is disingenuous to claim Putin is blackmailing Europe when at the same time Europe is sanctioning Russia.

According to a presidential decree, European companies must request the opening of accounts in rubles in the Russian bank Gazprombank to make payments for gas in their respective currencies, as stipulated in signed contracts, while the bank will convert the foreign currencies into rubles according to the change of the Moscow Stock Exchange.

The Group of Seven (the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Canada) rejected the Russian demand to pay for energy resources in rubles, claiming it is an attempt to evade restrictions. They are concerned that Gazprombank will transfer the payments to Russia’s central bank, whose international reserves in the West are frozen.

According to sources quoted by Bloomberg, about 10 European companies have agreed with Moscow to pay in rubles, while four of them have already paid in rubles. The American outlet did not name which companies. This is critical as Gazprom warned that the gas supply to Germany, Hungary and Serbia, which passes through Poland and Bulgaria, would “be reduced proportionately,” something that could affect the industries and economies of Europe to unprecedented levels.

90 percent of Bulgaria’s gas demand is serviced by Russia, almost all of it via the TurkStream pipeline running under the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and then on to the EU. According to Bulgarian Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov: “We have secured quantities [of gas] for the sufficiently foreseeable period. In the meantime, we will discuss supplies, transfer routes and further quantities with the European Commission.”

With the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria expected to become operational in July, gas imports from Azerbaijan via the Southern Gas Corridor are expected to skyrocket. Bulgaria will also increase LNG supplies from Greece and Turkey with a Greek energy ministry official already confirming that Bulgaria has booked some LNG cargoes to be delivered via the Revithoussa LNG terminal off Athens.

This however exposes the hypocrisy of the liberal west as they denounce Russian energy imports as being tainted with Ukrainian blood but have absolutely no issue with increased gas imports from the Azerbaijani dictatorship that as recently as 2020 embarked on a campaign of ethnically cleansing Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russia began its military campaign against Ukraine after eight years of unrelenting war crimes by the Kiev regime against the civilians of Donbass and almost immediately was economically targeted by the West. Yet, Azerbaijan experienced no such condemnation or economic targeting from the West despite its deliberate erasure of Armenian cultural sites, beheading of elderly civilians and enforcing one of the most racist education curriculums in the world.

This of course demonstrates the blatant hypocrisy and contradictions of the liberal West, thus proving they are not motivated by some farcical belief in opposing illiberalism and tyranny as they claim in the case of Russia, but are motivated in trying to maintain a US-dominated world order that no longer exists. Azerbaijan, unlike Russia, is not a threat to the world system, and thus can escape all criticisms of its dictatorial illiberal system, exposing the EU’s immense hypocrisy.

Source: InfoBrics