Winters in Europe are colder than ever. This is not only because of the slackness of European countries, resulting in a serious shortage of natural gas reserves and a prominent shortage, but also because Russia, the main country of natural gas in Europe, has also declined this year.
More than 70% of Russia's onshore pipelines that transport natural gas to Europe need to be transshipped through Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and other countries, and they have to pay high transit fees. And what was supposed to be a mutually beneficial relationship is often used by Ukraine, Poland and other countries as a means of geopolitical struggle, thus exacerbating tensions in overland pipeline transportation.
There is also ** breaking news that Ukraine often uses transit pipelines to steal oil and gas, which is a headache for Russia.
However, Italy, which received Russian assistance in the first round of the epidemic, suddenly attacked Russia for playing the refugee card and the energy card. According to foreign media reports, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica recently published an article entitled "Tanks and Migrants: Putin's Vise Squeezes Europe", accusing Russia of the current crises facing Europe.
This baseless accusation immediately drew a strong rebuttal from Russian spokeswoman Zakharova, who reminded the editor-in-chief of the newspaper that Russia has never embarrassed Italy in terms of gas ** (there are data that prove that Russia supplies Italy with 20 billion cubic meters of gas per year). If Italy does not like Russian fuel, it can heat the house with its own newspaper.
We are worried that the Italians are reaping the consequences, and even more so that if the current crisis is not resolved quickly, this Christmas will be full of little match girls everywhere in Europe. Don't forget that a burning match not only lights up, but also warms up.