Tension rose again on Wednesday between Moscow and the European Union (EU) over Russian gas deliveries, with kyiv warning that a disaster at the Zaporizhia power plant could have consequences beyond Ukraine.
While defending himself from using energy as a “weapon”, Vladimir Putin threatened to cease all delivery of hydrocarbons in the event of a price cap, a project relaunched the same day by Brussels.
Capping the prices of Russian hydrocarbons would be “a foolishness”, he said at an economic forum in Vladivostok. “We will not deliver anything at all if it is against our interests, in this case economic. No gas, no oil, no coal […] Nothing,” added the Russian president.
But a few moments later, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, revived the idea of such a cap, as part of measures to reduce the energy bill of Europeans.
For Brussels, this would also make it possible to “reduce the income” used by the Russian authorities to “finance this atrocious war against Ukraine”.
“At the start of the war, Russian gas by pipeline represented 40% of all gas imported [par l’UE]. Today, it represents only 9%”, also underlined Mr.me von der Leyen.
kyiv denounced a “Russian propaganda which is in full swing by threatening Europe with a freezing winter”. “Putin is advancing towards the second stage of a hybrid war, threatening the stability of European homes,” declared the spokesman for Ukrainian diplomacy, Oleg Nikolenko.
“Make no mistake, gas cuts by Russia have nothing to do with sanctions. It’s planned,” he added.
Mr. Putin’s grievances are not limited to hydrocarbons, the head of the Kremlin attacking the “fever of sanctions” Western, which will not succeed, according to him, to “isolate Russia”. The “peak” of the difficulties linked to these sanctions is “past”, he assured in particular.
Mr. Putin insisted on strengthening ties with Asia, China in particular, in the face of “the technological, financial and economic aggression of the West”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, visiting Belgrade, agreed, accusing Westerners of “provocation” towards Moscow.
“Humanitarian disaster”
In Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country is very dependent on Russian gas, said that Germany would get through the winter “with courage and bravery” despite the risk of shortages.
Mr. Putin also turned against the West the accusations that the conflict in Ukraine and its agricultural consequences allowed Moscow to put pressure on developing countries dependent on Ukrainian wheat.
According to him, the vast majority of Ukrainian cereals, whose exports have just resumed, go to European countries and not to poor countries, which poses a risk of “humanitarian catastrophe”.
Fears around the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant, occupied for six months by Russian forces, also continue to remain strong.
A nuclear accident would have “consequences not only for Ukraine, but also, clearly, consequences beyond the borders”, warned Oleg Korikov, head of the Ukrainian nuclear safety agency.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Zaporijjia is undergoing bombardments for which kyiv and Moscow accuse each other.
In a report published Tuesday after a visit, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for the establishment of a “safety zone” around the site, the situation of which has become “untenable”.
The head of the Ukrainian public operator Energoatom, Petro Kotin, for his part wished on Wednesday that this plant be placed under the protection of a “peacekeeping contingent”.
But the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, demanded “clarifications” from the IAEA on this report, and Mr. Putin denied the agency’s assertions about the presence of military equipment on the site.
In Moscow, Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, proposed to organize referendums on November 4 in the territories under Russian control in Ukraine with a view to attaching them to Russia.
“Donetsk, Luhansk and many other Russian cities will finally return to their home ports. And the Russian world, now divided by formal borders, will regain its integrity,” said United Russia General Council Secretary Andrei Turchak.
In kyiv, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zalouzhny, for the first time admitted having carried out missile strikes having targeted Russian bases in Crimea in August, threatening to continue this type of operation.
Ukraine has “successfully carried out missile strikes on enemy military bases, including Saki airfield”, he wrote in an article published by the state-run Ukrinform news agency.
Explosions sounded in early August on this Russian airfield located in Crimea and left one dead and several injured in addition to destroying, among other things, ammunition intended for military aviation.
Near the front line, Ukrainian civilians are already preparing for a winter made even harsher by the prolonged fighting and the lack of gas for heating.
“We are going to regroup to warm up and come what may”, philosopher Oleksandre Matviïevski, a resident of Kramatorsk, 25 km from the front, chainsaw in hand.