Senator Alexey Pushkov . File photoMOSCOW, May 2.Germany's refusal to supply gas from Russia in 2022-2023 would be «madness» for Germany, said Senator Alexei Pushkov. In February, the German authorities announced their intention to reduce dependence on Russian energy supplies for the foreseeable future. Germany expects to abandon the import of coal and oil from Russia by the end of this year, it is tentatively said that it will be possible to end dependence on gas by mid-2024. «The course to abandon gas from Russia in 2024, announced by Berlin, today it looks utopian,” he wrote in his Telegram channel. According to Pushkov, such a goal is unrealizable in principle, even by 2027, as the EU sets itself. madness for Germany,» he concluded.The German Finance Ministry announced its refusal to pay for Russian gas in rublesEnergy crisis in GermanyGermany, like other Western countries, faced a sharp rise in fuel prices after the introduction of large-scale sanctions against Moscow in response to a special operation of the Russian army in Ukraine. It was mainly the financial sector and the supply of high-tech products that were hit, but the authorities of a number of countries announced their intention to abandon Russian energy sources. Economists interviewed by N-TV earlier said that rising energy prices and a possible embargo on Russian fuel threaten Germany with a recession. Allianz economist Katharina Utermel predicted the sharpest decline in real wages since the reunification of the FRG and the GDR.Germany will have to pay for Russian gas in rubles, the leader said. The dpa agency, citing a report from the German Ministry of Economy, reported that the process of abandoning Russian energy sources is accompanied by costs for the economy and consumers. In turn, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported that the European Union will be able to meet the targets on filling gas storages in the event of refusal of two-thirds of the «blue fuel» from Russia only if industrial enterprises are disconnected from gas in spring and summer. Many countries have announced the freezing of Russian assets, and calls to abandon energy sources have become louder. On March 8, the United States imposed a ban on the import of Russian oil, certain petroleum products, LNG and coal. Following this, the UK announced that it would stop buying oil and oil products by the end of 2022. Against this background, since April 1, Moscow began to accept payments for gas from unfriendly states in rubles in order to get away from settlements in dollars and euros. Since April 27, Gazprom has suspended fuel exports to Bulgaria and Poland due to non-payment.
