Russian President Vladimir Putin. Image: Taken from Twitter @abadan_ebi
Russia was scolded and sanctioned by the international community for its violation of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin retaliated with a “natural gas weapon”. Eastern and southern European countries, which are very dependent on Russia’s natural gas supply, were once thought to be severely restrained in terms of policy. Bulgaria’s move in Moscow has not been significantly affected; scholars point out that gas consumption in many countries in the region is not high, and other suppliers are able to quickly fill the gap left by Russia.
Dimitar Bechev, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, a branch of the American think tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in Al Jazeera. , Russia’s “natural gas weapons” are world-famous. Some people think that Eastern European and Southern European countries may be reluctant to join anti-Russian cooperation because of this, but the actual situation has not developed in this way.
Bechev pointed out that Bulgaria, which used to have more than 90% of its natural gas from Russia, did not experience political crisis, foreign policy changes or economic chaos following the supply was cut off, but strengthened Bulgaria’s determination to oppose Russia; Poland also maintains a tough stance, but the proportion of Poland’s natural gas imports from Russia is much lower than Bulgaria’s, less than 50%.
Bechev continued to point out that the effect of “natural gas weapons” on Eastern and Southern European countries is not as good as expected, because the total local gas consumption is not high, only regarding 3 billion cubic meters per year in Bulgaria and Serbia, and regarding 6 billion cubic meters in Greece each year. , far lower than Germany’s regarding 90 billion cubic meters; Romania is the country with the highest natural gas consumption in the region, regarding 12 billion cubic meters per year, but only regarding 10% of its natural gas imports from Russia.
Bechev said that the main impact of the “natural gas weapon” on the countries concerned is actually the price, because the alternative is certainly more expensive than Russian gas, which has the advantage of long-term contracts. However, Bulgaria can find alternatives from other countries relatively easily for the above reasons, and it is easier for Bulgaria to cope with the fact that the temperature has warmed when Russia announced the interruption of gas supply.
