Russia has imposed sanctions on several European companies through which Gazprom supplies gas to the European Union, raising the stakes in the energy war with Europe that has escalated since the invasion of Ukraine. Germany, the largest industrial power and the main consumer of Russian energy resources in the EU, took the first blow of counter-sanctions.

She easily dealt with it, but German officials have suspicions that the goal was not tactical, but strategic, and the Kremlin planted a time bomb for the European Union, which is 40% dependent on Russian gas.

The energy war began long before the invasion: Gazprom cut gas supplies to the EU in the autumn, and prices soared to unprecedented heights. And as soon as bombs fell on Ukrainian cities, the EU abandoned Russian coal, was going to reduce gas purchases in Russia by two-thirds by the end of the year, and almost agreed on an embargo on Russian oil .

In response, President Vladimir Putin demanded that the Europeans pay for gas to an account with the Russian Gazprombank, followed by the mandatory conversion of euros into rubles, and turned off the gas for refuseniks in Poland and Bulgaria. Ukraine entered the energy war on Wednesday, restricting Russian transit to Europe through the occupied territories.

On the evening of the same day, the Russian government complied with Putin’s decree of May 3 and published a list of companies against which counter-sanctions are being introduced. The companies Gazprom Germania and EuRoPol GAZ got into it.

“The decree contains very targeted and innovative measures. It allows the preservation of trade relations with Germany, but not on the same terms,” Klaus Müller, head of the German federal gas transmission network, summed up the first results of a new round of the energy war.

Trading companies were subject to counter-sanctions, but they did not affect gas transportation companies. They can be easily circumvented if the Germans buy Russian gas directly or through other traders. However, this involves renegotiating contracts.

Putin thus kills two birds with one stone. Firstly, through his efforts, prices in Europe are breaking records, so new deals will be more profitable than the previous ones. And secondly, the new contracts can stipulate payment through Gazprombank, which is preferable for Russia in the conditions of freezing the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the central bank.

EuRoPol GAZ – also under Russian sanctions – is the owner of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline from Russia via Belarus and Poland to Germany. True, the gas pipeline with a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters per year (about a third of all Russian supplies to the EU) has been operating in reverse mode for many weeks and pumps far from Russian gas from Germany to Poland, which was cut off by Gazprom back in April.

“Earlier, the Polish side repeatedly violated the rights of Gazprom as a shareholder of EuRoPol GAZ, and on April 26, 2022, it added Gazprom to the sanctions list, blocking the company’s ability to exercise rights on shares and other securities of EuRoPol GAZ and receive dividends,” he said. Gazprom” on Thursday, commenting on the government’s decision to impose sanctions against its joint venture with the Polish PGNiG.

The largest German underground storage facility of Gazprom for 4 billion cubic meters and the trader Wingas also fell under the sanctions.

All this will deprive Germany of about 3% of its daily imports, Economics Minister Robert Habeck said. These losses can be easily compensated for by other sources, albeit more expensive. In addition, Germany continues to receive Russian gas through the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea.

Escalation of the crisis is inevitable: Europe is preparing new sanctions against Russian oil – the main export commodity and the main source of income for the Kremlin. It is easier for the EU to refuse it than from gas .

And for Russia – on the contrary, therefore the gas attack on Europe is the most effective Russian weapon in the economic war with the EU. And counter-sanctions are confirmation that Putin is determined to use it.