The current energy crisis illustrates that the EU’s road to energy transition will be bumpy and reliance on Russian gas is here to stay for longer. At the Russian Energy Week president Putin rebuffed allegations that Russia uses energy as a weapon. His key message to the Europeans was: Russia is your reliable trouble-shooter, if you ask nicely.

The image of Putin’s Russia in Germany has suffered tremendously in the past few weeks. In the wake of a series of ever more implausible denials, the Kremlin’s credibility has seriously been eroded. Government and leading figures in the political parties have called for sanctions, both against the Lukashenko regime and Putin’s Russia, including stopping the North Stream 2 gas pipeline project. It remains to be seen whether the current shocks of the Kremlin’s behaviour will lead to major policy changes or, as in the past, end in business as usual.