Editorial: Europe must act immediately to reduce its dependence on Russian gas

The war in Ukraine has highlighted that Europe’s dependence on energy from Russia is a strategic and security vulnerability that must be dealt with now

Vladimir Putin, president of Russia: cutting off gas to Europe would deprive him of the only source of the foreign currency he needs to finance his monstrous war, which is costing $20 billion a day, according to one estimate. Picture: Getty

Vladimir Putin is on the ropes, and he knows it. As the Russian president’s war on the people of Ukraine falters, through the heroic resistance of the Ukrainians and the brutal incompetence of his generals, he is struggling to cobble together a response to the other war he faces: keeping Russia’s economy and businesses on life support in the face of crippling western sanctions.

Now he thinks he has found his trump card – gas ...