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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants Germany to do something about its addiction to Russian energy that’s funnelling billions to the Kremlin while it bombards his cities.
Zelenskyy appealed for help in a scathing 20-minute televised speech to the Bundestag on Thursday, where he spelled out how Germany had ignored warnings about making its economy dependent on Russia.
Kyiv’s concerns were shrugged off with the response: “It’s about the economy, the economy, the economy,” he said.
And indeed, for many German politicians, it is a pocket-book issue.
Germany is by far the biggest EU spender on Russian oil, gas and coal, paying more than €40 billion in 2021; it gets 55 percent of its natural gas, 52 percent of its hard coal and 34 percent of its oil from Russia. In January alone, Germany sent €2.6 billion for oil and gas imports to…
