Russian Gas Supply Restrictions Spark Controversy, Initial Signs of European Energy Crisis Emerge

During the third quarter of 2021, as the European economy recovered from the pandemic, demand for natural gas surged, yet the volume of natural gas supplied by Russia via pipelines did not increase proportionally, and in some cases, even decreased. This "tightness" in supply contributed to record-breaking spikes in European natural gas futures prices.

In Moscow, critics accused the Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom of deliberately restricting supplies to Europe, aiming to accelerate the regulatory approval for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and use energy as a geopolitical bargaining chip. The incident triggered a fierce debate in Europe over energy security. For conservatives, this confirmed their long-standing concerns about Russian energy policy: that Russia was weaponizing its energy exports, exposing the immense risks associated with Europe’s strategic reliance on Russian fossil fuels.