Funding Putin’s war
To understand how Vladimir Putin pays for his war machine, look no further than Europe.
While European nations, along with the U.S. and others, have slapped stiff economic sanctions on Moscow since its troops rolled into Ukraine in late February, their dependence on Russian oil, gas and coal supplies provides Moscow with a vital financial lifeline — one that dwarfs military aid to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration in Kyiv.
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As EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell put it yesterday, what Europe has given so far to Ukraine — roughly 1 billion euros — it hands to Russia each day for energy purchases. Cut-price cargoes are also heading to Japan, South Korea, China and India.
The cash has not only helped push up the value of the ruble — mocked last month by U.S. President Joe Biden as having been reduced to “rubble” — back up to pre-invasion levels, it has allowed Putin to crow to his domestic audience that all these sanctions really aren’t doing damage.
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