Vladimir Putin is pleased.
With his typical, slightly frightening smile, the Kremlin chief inaugurates a Russian LNG plant on the Gydan Peninsula in northern Siberia.
Putin is not happy about the attention or because he is allowed to operate the big black-and-red switch and then the factory siren sounds. Putin is happy because he is allowed to further expand his energy empire. "LNG production projects are important because they have a wide range of effects on the entire economy," he emphasized at the opening. "They give us a part – an urgently needed part – of the global LNG market."
Zoom Image
Vladimir Putin at the christening of the Russian gas tanker "Alexei Kosygin", September 11, 2023
Photo: ALEXEI DANICHEV /SPUTNIK/KREMLIN / POOL / EPA
Despite all the sanctions, Russia's oil sales are running smoothly again. Because the price cap on Russian crude oil installed by the G7 countries last fall is leaking. The maximum price of $60 per barrel was intended to limit Russia's profits and at the same time ensure that the commodity flows into the world market. After all, it is not possible to do without Russian fuels.
In fact, Russia's profits from the oil business are rising again. This also applies to the sale of Russian LNG. The best customer for liquefied natural gas from Putin's empire: Europe. And Russian oil, despite the embargo, still reaches us via detours.
How can it be that fundamentally well-planned sanctions do not work? What can be done to more effectively limit Russia's commodity gains? And how did Belgium become one of the largest gas suppliers to Germany without its own gas production? SPIEGEL business journalists Benjamin Bidder and Claus Hecking talk about this in our podcast "Eight Billion".
You can listen to the current episode here: