Sánchez continues to finance Putin's war with Russia as the second gas supplier

@ElentirENG ES 7·09·2024 · 18:31 0

Pedro Sánchez's coalition government, made up of socialists and communists, continues to do considerable favors to Russia.

Sanchez remains silent and Vox reiterates its support for Ukraine after Russian attack on children's hospital
Sánchez promises Ukraine aid much less than the amount of its purchase of Russian gas

This Monday, Russia attacked a children's hospital in kyiv, within the framework of an attack against several Ukrainian cities in which dozens of people have been murdered. The attack on the hospital was carried out with a Russian Kh-101 missile, as a video recorded at the time of the explosion has clearly shown. Russia can continue to arm itself thanks to the money it obtains from the sale of gas to other countries, including Spain.

This Tuesday, one day after yesterday's Russian attack on that hospital, Enagás, the technical manager of the gas system in Spain, has published its statistical bulletin for June 2024 (see PDF), which includes a fact that should be cause for scandal: last month, 19.9% ​​of the gas imported by Spain came from Russia , a total of 5,681 GWh. Russia appears as Spain's second largest gas supplier, only surpassed by Algeria, which accounts for 45.2% of imports.

So far this year, Spain has already purchased 21.9% of its gas imports from Russia, a total of 38,950 GWh. Imports of Russian gas by Spain are now eight points above gas imports from the United States, which were 11.5% of the total in June (3,279 GWh). These purchases of Russian gas by Spain are providing a great source of income for Putin.

In 2022 and 2023, purchases of Russian gas by Spain injected 6,420 million euros into the Russian economy (4,111 million in 2022 and 2,311 million in 2023), according to data from the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) . In February of this year it was learned that Spain has replaced France as the main importer of Russian gas by ship in the EU. In December 2023, the newspaper El Mundo indicated that Spain has multiplied its dependence on Russian gas by six since 2018, the year Pedro Sánchez took office. It also happens that the Sánchez government has prohibited the extraction of natural gas in Spain, the exploitation of which could supply Spain with what it needs for 40 years.

It should also be noted that the money that Spain is injecting into Russia with these gas imports is much greater than Spain's aid to Ukraine. According to data published by the Ukraine Support Tracker of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, updated as of June 6, 2024, Spain has provided Ukraine with 550 million euros in military aid, less aid than that provided by smaller countries with more modest economies, such as Denmark (5.6 billion), Belgium (1.53 billion), the Czech Republic (1.2 billion), Lithuania (710 million) and Slovakia (670 million).

Spain's military aid to Ukraine is more laughable if we compare it with the military aid provided by other European countries, such as Germany (10.2 billion), the United Kingdom (8.8 billion), the Netherlands (4.35 billion), Poland (3.0 billion) and Italy (1,000 million). Even Australia, located on the other side of the world, contributes more than Spain: 570 million. What is becoming increasingly clear is that if Ukraine wins this war, it will not do so thanks to Sánchez, but in spite of it, because the Spanish government, allied with pro-Russian parties, he seems more interested in helping Russia economically than the Ukrainian people.

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Photo: La Moncloa.