MOSCOW, April 12The European Union will sue Germany if it does not make changes to the gas law, according to which German gas supplies are taxed; neighboring countries believe that it prevents them from reducing their dependence on energy resources from the Russian Federation, Politico reports, citing an official of the European Commission.
As the publication notes, countries neighboring Germany believe that the law adopted in 2022 leads to higher prices and motivates them to buy cheaper Russian energy resources. 
“There are grounds to consider this a clear violation of competition law and the rules of the single market,” the newspaper quotes the anonymous official as saying. He added that unless Germany abolishes or reduces the tax, legal action could be filed «within the next few months.»
In turn, a representative of the German Ministry of Economics told Politico that the gas storage tax does not imply discrimination and is levied in the same way from all countries. He added that the tax does not restrict trade within the EU, so a switch to Russian gas is not justified.
The Russian Federation has previously stated more than once that the West made a serious mistake by refusing to buy hydrocarbons from Russia; it will fall into a new, stronger dependence due to higher prices. Moscow stated that those who refused would still buy at a higher price through intermediaries and would continue to buy Russian oil and gas.
The Russian Federation has also repeatedly stated that the country will cope with the sanctions pressure that the West began to exert on Russia several years ago and continues to increase. Moscow noted that the West lacks the courage to admit the failure of sanctions against the Russian Federation. In Western countries themselves, opinions have been repeatedly voiced that anti-Russian sanctions are ineffective. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the policy of containing and weakening Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and sanctions dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people.