Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10104003
Estonia’s Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, has told the BBC that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “afraid” of a war with Nato.
The leader of Estonia, which borders Russia, warned that while Putin is good at “sowing fear”, his threats must also be taken seriously.
Ms Kallas added that Nato countries do not want to go to war with Russia either.
She has previously called on European countries to bolster support for Ukraine, warning that war could expand “very fast in Europe, so no country is left untouched” if Vladimir Putin wins.
I think she’s wrong on one thing: European countries aren’t afraid of going to war with Russia, they’re afraid of losing access to Russian gas.
Putin doesn’t fear anybody and he knows nobody will wage war on Russia: he holds almost all the European countries by the cojones because he controls their energy supply.
Europe has been moving its energy supply lines ever since the war broke out and is not nearly as dependent on Russian gas or fuel as it used to be, to the point where it could be cut completely and it wouldn’t hurt too much. Your comment would have been valid in 2022, but a lot has changed since then.
That kind of leverage only lasts for a while, as soon as the countries diversify their energy supplies to become mostly independent then Putin will be in serious trouble.