‘Paper Bear’ Putin has to be dumber than President Joe Biden—which is almost impossible to be.
Putin reinvaded Ukraine on 2/24/2022 thinking that Russia would capture Kyiv in a couple days, and that the whole of Ukraine would fall in a week or so.
Today is 8/4/2023 and Russian troops have gone from an offensive attacking army to a defensive army clinging to life. ‘Paper Bear’ Putin has exposed his entire military’s weaknesses—to the entire world.
All the intelligence agencies & spies in the world did not even realize that the Russia military was even ‘Slightly’ weak, but then Putin foolishly reinvaded Ukraine, and made sure that everyone knew just how weak the Russian military was/is. Some would call that a Treasonous Act.
Gazprom as a ‘National Treasure’
PJSC Gazprom (Russian: Газпром, IPA: [ɡɐsˈprom]) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the largest publicly listed natural gas company in the world and the largest company in Russia by revenue. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Gazprom was ranked as the 32nd largest public company in the world. The Gazprom name is a contraction of the Russian words gazovaya promyshlennost (газовая промышленность, gas industry). In January 2022, Gazprom displaced Sberbank from the first place in the list of the largest companies in Russia by market capitalization.
Then Russia reinvaded Ukraine…
Russia’s Gazprom said its key gas pipeline to Europe won’t reopen as planned, moving the region a step closer to blackouts, rationing and a severe recession.
The pipeline was due to reopen on Saturday after maintenance. But in a last-minute statement late on Friday, the company said a technical issue had been found and the pipe can’t operate again until it’s fixed. The European Union said Gazprom was acting on “fallacious pretenses.”
It’s a massive blow to Europe, which is scrambling to cut its dependency on Russian gas before winter and has been waiting for Moscow’s next steps in the energy war. As the continent tries to implement measures to get through the winter, the indefinite closure of the pipeline is an escalation that threatens more economic turmoil.
“This announcement is just another indication that between ‘technical issues’ and ‘contract disagreements’, a winter with zero Russian gas is the central scenario for Europe,” said Simone Tagliapietra at think-tank Bruegel in Brussels. “Putin seeks to hit Europe where it hurts the most.”
Gazprom reported a reduction in gas exports to far abroad by almost 45%
01 December 2022 – Gazprom has reduced gas exports to far abroad by 45% since the beginning of the year. The company explained this by a decrease in demand, primarily in Europe. Earlier this year, Gazprom stopped supplying gas to Europe via the Nord Stream and recently threatened to reduce transit through Ukraine to Moldova
Gazprom reduced gas exports to foreign countries in January – November 2022 to 95.2 billion cubic meters – this is 44.5% less than in the same months of last year. “Gazprom supplies gas according to the confirmed applications,” the company said in a statement.
The ‘National Treasure’ gas exports drop “44.5%” from previous year—WOW!!!
You’ll ‘freeze freeze,’ Putin warns West over energy sanctions
“We will not supply anything at all if it is contrary to our interests,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “No gas, no oil, no coal, no fuel oil, nothing.”
Putin’s rage was directed at the EU, where European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday again called for a cap on the price of Russian gas, and at a recent G7 call to set limits on the price of Russia’s oil exports. Both measures are aimed at undermining the Kremlin’s financial ability to wage war in Ukraine.
But efforts to limit what Russia earns from energy exports will rebound against the West, the Kremlin chief warned.
“This is yet another stupidity, another non-market decision that has no future. All administrative restrictions in global trade only lead to disproportions and higher prices,” he said at an economic forum in the far-eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. He added that if the West goes ahead, it will “freeze, freeze, the wolf’s tail,” referring to a Russian fairytale about a foolish wolf who is tricked by a fox into freezing his tail in an ice hole.
Well, long story short, Russia was unable to cause Europe to “freeze freeze” or even the poor Ukrainians. However, ‘Paper Bear’ Putin has managed to destroy a Russian “National Treasure”.
‘Goodbye National Treasure‘
13 July 2023 – The Russian monopolistic gas giant is experiencing a downturn. Gas production has fallen by 24% across the country, and if we look specifically at Gazprom, it has decreased by nearly a third compared to pre-war levels. Gas exports to distant European markets have plummeted from 170-180 billion cubic meters during peak years to just 12 billion cubic meters in the first six months of this year. Arbitration courts are dealing with numerous multi-billion-dollar lawsuits filed by consumers who were left without gas due to Gazprom’s contract violations. Government revenue from gas exports has declined by 80%, and the company has stopped paying dividends.
Thousands of investors who had put their money into Gazprom stocks, holding onto them for years in anticipation of growth, are witnessing a significant decline in their value. The share price, which reached its peak at 360 rubles ($4.90) in September 2021, has now dropped to 166 rubles, equivalent to less than $1.80 at the current exchange rate. Both individual investors who believed in Gazprom as a “national treasure” and toasted “to us, to gas,” and the entire national economy have suffered substantial losses.
How did such a massive company, employing nearly half a million people, end up in such a state and who is responsible?
The Russia Government has lost a huge amount of revenue from gas exports—“80%” – OUCH!!!
Putin had told Europe – ‘we will freeze you and bring you to economic collapse if you insist on supporting Ukraine and do not lift sanctions against Russia.’ Well, Europe didn’t freeze or experience economic collapse, but Russian Government has certainly lost some major revenue.
In early 2019, Russia accounted for 39.4% of gas imports to the European Union, and the revenue from these supplies constituted 13.5% of the federal budget’s income.
That’s a lot of revenue for a Government to lose “80%” of – especially if that Government has started a war by reinvading another country.
Putin had also bragged about selling Russian gas to other countries, and had figured that the Chinese market could replace the European market – WRONG!!!
Putin’s calculations that the Chinese market could replace the European market turned out to be an illusion. China’s demand for Russian gas is not comparable to that of the Europeans, and constructing the necessary infrastructure to meet China’s requirements would take at least 12-15 years.
Gazprom, which was not hindered by any sanctions and had every chance to continue operating as a normal commercial company in the European energy market, has essentially committed suicide as an exporter. The order for the “national treasure” to commit this act of self-destruction came from the Kremlin.
Conclusion
Be sure to read The Insider article – Goodbye National Treasure. Mikhail Krutikhin on how Putin destroyed Gazprom by using it to “freeze Europe”
Russia pretends that sanctions haven’t hurt them, but Governments spend lots of money—especially during war, and Russia has lost a lot of much needed revenue thru sanctions and their own miscalculations, and continues to lose…