Pipeline of Lies and Fantasies

Winter is approaching and with it a new focus on those familiar Kremlin disinformation narratives about the EU’s energy supply and the folly of ‘anti-Russian’ sanctions.

The story has remained largely unchanged since Putin cut gas supplies to Europe back in spring 2022 with a demand(opens in a new tab) to lift EU sanctions. According to the pro-Kremlin disinformation, Europeans are committing a massive act of self-harm – their economies are tanking because of the lack of Russian energy resources, while those sanctions have had a minimal effect on Russia itself, which is forging a bright new future and leaving its old EU customers in the dust.

EU on the brink of collapse?

Two years on – what has changed? Not so much, but there have been a few interesting tweaks to some familiar narratives. For example, back in 2022, the Kremlin’s propagandists painted an apocalyptic picture of an EU plunged into winter darkness due to a lack of Russian fuel, with its citizens freezing and civil unrest on the streets.

They forecast the overthrow of EU governments and even disintegration of the EU itself. Just like they forecasted the collapse of the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kremlin minions have been proven wrong time and again.