German Finance Minister Christian Lindner stated that Germany has completely diversified its energy infrastructure after Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine and is no longer dependent on Russian energy sources.
He told about this in an interview with the BBC.
According to him, the country found new sources of energy after the Russian Federation stopped supplying gas last August. Before that, Berlin imported almost half of its gas and more than a third of its oil from Russia. Today, according to Lindner, the country still depends on energy imports, but already from world markets.
The BBC notes that for such rapid diversification, Germany has resumed the operation of coal-fired power plants, postponed plans to close three nuclear plants, and has also made efforts to increase storage capacity for natural gas imported from other countries. Lindner said that additional investments in infrastructure are planned in the future.
- Due to the sharp increase in the cost of energy carriers, which was caused by the invasion of Russia, Europe lost almost a trillion dollars. EU countries began to refuse Russian gas and oil, and in November of last year Germany admitted that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project contributed to the war in Ukraine.
- Russia counted on the EUʼs dependence on its energy sources and pressured countries to ease sanctions and not provide aid to Ukraine.