The United States has been creating panic in European countries and even the whole world, disguising its hegemonic behavior as justice and describing China, Russia, North Korea, and other countries seeking legitimate development as "axis of evil."
Moreover, since the Russia-Ukraine war, the United States and Western countries have spared no effort to smear Russia, amplify the European energy dilemma under Russia's countermeasures, and fill Russia's image as a "villain".
In many reports from foreign media, Russia has single-handedly resisted the sanctions from the entire United States and Western countries, which is not simply showing Russia's strength, this is naked killing! The United States is trying in vain to portray Russia as the enemy of the whole world.
The reality is that Russia's domestic economy has not yet collapsed, but the situation of Gazprom, a pillar of its industry, is not very good.
According to the International Financial Reporting Standards, Gazprom's net loss in 2023 will be about 629 billion rubles, or about $6.8 billion, according to Page Express on May 2.
On top of that, this is the first time in more than 20 years that the company has lost money, and the meaning is completely different.
Has Russia lost the energy war? Putin, who realizes that something is wrong, does he have a way to deal with it?
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Russia's energy game with the United States and the West: Britain and the United States profit
After Russia and Ukraine, the Nord Stream pipeline has been bombed many times, in fact, it has already become a "hot spot" in the game between Russia and Ukraine, the European Union, NATO, the CIS, the United Kingdom and the United States and other stakeholders, each with its own interests behind it.
It is only because the Nord Stream pipeline was established from the beginning to rely on geoeconomics to promote the sustainable development of Russia and Europe.
In May 2010, construction began on the first Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs from Vyborg in Russia in the east to Greifswald in Germany in the west, and was commissioned a year later.
Costs were controlled, efficiency was improved, safety was good, and after the first pipeline was put into use, the second pipeline was immediately started.
Even if the two pipelines were put into use in 2012, they were still far from enough for the economies of Russia and Europe, and more countries wanted to participate, so in 2018, they joined France, the Netherlands, and Austria to form the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a joint venture of five countries.
Under normal operation, Nord Stream 2 can transport 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
It is crucial for both Russia and the European Union, but the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States coerced the European Union into issuing sanctions to Russia, involving areas of Russian development, such as restrictions on energy and shipping with Russia, oil export price caps, and the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines.
The Nord Stream pipelines were blown up, how much damage did it do to Russia and Europe?
Even people who don't pay attention to Russia and Ukraine and don't know about the situation in Europe have generally heard that there was an energy crisis in Europe in 2022, which is a bad effect of the blowing up of gas pipelines.
In addition to soaring energy prices, the economies of European countries are also declining, fiscal deficits are rising, and even capital and talent are flowing out.
It can be seen that Russia and Europe are opposed, and both sides are victims. So, who profited?
Intuitive data shows that the EU paid 185 billion euros more for refusing to import Russian gas, while the United States and the United Kingdom earned 53 billion euros and 27.9 billion euros respectively from the middle.
They are all victims, and the only winners are the United States and Britain.
It is difficult to make up for the gap in the east
Russia's abundant natural gas resources can not only promote domestic development and increase foreign exchange, but also serve as an important link for Russia to strengthen dialogue and diplomacy with other regions, among which Gazprom occupies an important position in the overall layout of the Russian side.
In 1996, Gazprom was successfully listed on the European stock market, and then Russia realized the combination of nationalization and marketization of Gazprom through a number of policies and measures, and relied on the long-term investment in the "North Stream" natural gas pipeline and the "South Stream" project to achieve development.
It is true that European countries account for the majority of Russia's gas supply chain, but with the pressure of NATO's eastward expansion, Putin also knows that he can't put his eggs in one basket, so the Sino-Russian gas cooperation project began.
The China-Russia East Route Natural Gas Pipeline is a cooperative project between PetroChina and Gazprom, including the Power of Siberia Pipeline in Russia, which departs from Eastern Siberia, Russia, and enters the northeast Heihe River of the mainland through Blagoveshchensk.
According to the agreement, Russia supplies 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the mainland every year.
After Russia and Ukraine, the energy cooperation between China and Russia has further increased, but the situation is still not good for Russia, which has cut energy cooperation with Europe.
Siberian Gas Pipeline Compression Station
According to statistics, Gazprom's supply of natural gas to China increased by 37.4% over the same period last year.
But this volume is far from enough to cover the big gap with the EU.
Gazprom, which has been relying on its energy advantages and policy dividends, also suffered its first net loss in more than 20 years, reaching nearly $7 billion.
With the first loss, it means that Russia's natural gas industry has a development dilemma, and it also means that there will be a second and third net loss into a vicious circle, and then the natural gas industry will radiate other domestic industries, which may cause a large collapse of the country's economy and put the country in a difficult situation.
It is not impossible for this scenario to happen, and Putin, anticipating the worst consequences, has his eyes set on China.
Recently, there has been good news from the Sino-Russian cooperation of the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline.
The Siberian Power-2 may be able to reverse Russia's predicament
In September 2022, then-Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak stated that "the Sino-Russian Siberian Power-2 may replace the currently suspended Nord Stream 2 pipeline."
Image source network
Where did it come from?
After the design began in 2020, in 2021, the Russian side also established the "Eastern Union Gas Pipeline" company in Mongolia.
At this time, Putin's attitude is also very clear, he intends to let Mongolia also follow behind the Sino-Russian cooperation project to get a piece of the pie, after all, Kazakhstan only transships 10 million tons of Russian oil into China every year, and can get hundreds of millions of dollars in tolls.
From the map, Mongolia is sandwiched between two large countries, China and Russia, and is a small landlocked country with little strength.
Even though the mainland has repeatedly expressed goodwill to Mongolia, Mongolia still regards the mainland as an imaginary enemy, and has developed a "third neighbor" policy after the Cold War.
The third neighbor here is not an arbitrary country or international organization, but refers to Western countries in general, and can be understood as the United States or NATO under the leadership of the United States.
This is also true according to the later practice of Mongolia.
Even now, the United States has continued to increase sanctions against China, especially in the field of high-tech such as chips, and has erected an iron wall against China, resolutely refusing to let China break through.
The more people who know more about chips and lithography machines, the more they can understand the pressure of Huawei, ZTE and other enterprises in mainland China in scientific research, the historical period, the correct decision-making of leaders, and the company's super ability to resist pressure, which jointly created ASML, a Dutch lithography machine manufacturer.
Every time a Chinese company achieves a breakthrough, the United States will formulate special sanctions, which will make Chinese companies suffer a lot of setbacks, and only by becoming the second ASML that the United States can not do can China achieve a real breakthrough.
Prior to this, in order to create more development space for Chinese enterprises, the mainland also launched counter-sanctions against the United States, such as mineral resources rare earths.
China accounts for the largest proportion of rare earth resources in the world, and Mongolia also has rich rare earth resources, which happens to be lacking in the United States, and is inseparable from the use of rare earths.
Chip manufacturing, military, metallurgy, lasers, superconductors, nuclear industry, from daily life to industrial production, all aspects are inseparable from the role of rare earths.
The mainland's counter-sanctions made the United States very uncomfortable, and it never expected that Mongolia would use rare earth resources to cook, repeatedly jumping between being close to China and being close to NATO, and finally leaning towards NATO.
After the recent report on the net loss of Gazprom, the Russian side has repeatedly discussed with the mainland in detail the issues related to the Siberian Power-2 and promoted the resolution of differences, and finally achieved results.
The Observer reported on May 7 that Russia plans to build a new pipeline to transport natural gas to China through Kazakhstan.
It is impossible for Russia to eat the lion's share, China only accepts mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation, participates in the whole process of the project, and promotes China's development in an all-round way.
In China's predicament, we have never thought of falling into the trap or standing idly by, but helping without regard for our own interests is deformed, and neither China nor Russia will be willing.
The mainland will buy natural gas as much as possible on the basis of fair prices and in line with the interests of the two countries to alleviate the crisis for Putin, and will also increase cooperation with other aspects of Russia to enhance Russia's ability to resist suppression.
In the future, Russia's natural gas deliveries to China will repeatedly break records and reach new peaks.
Moreover, Russia's way out is not only to send gas to China, but also to cooperate in the revitalization of Northeast China and the development of Russia's Far East to find new possibilities.
Image source network
Russia also has an Arctic shipping route strategy, if the transportation hub is completed and competitive sea routes appear, the cost of shipping from the Russian Arctic to the Asian market will be further reduced, and a diversified trade market may not be impossible.
Looking at Russia's layout in recent years, the strategy of looking "east" has emerged, and as a major power in the Asian region, let us wait and see whether China can join hands with Russia to break the blockade between the United States and the West.
Resources:
Gazprom's net loss in 2023 will reach $6.8 billion, the worst loss in more than two decades
Observer.com: Kazakhstan's ambassador to Russia: Russia plans to build a new pipeline to transport natural gas to China through Kazakhstan