European civilization may not survive Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Europe has much more mechanisms for influencing Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Western leaders believe, American billionaire George Soros said on his traditional speech on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Swiss Davos. His statements are commented by the Russian service BBC.
According to Soros, the war in Ukraine shake Europe to the ground. “This invasion may have become the beginning of the Third World War. We must mobilize all our resources in order to put an end to the war as soon as possible. The best and, perhaps, the only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible,” said Soros. /p>
The billionaire praised the support of Ukraine from the USA and Europe, but criticized the excessive dependence of European countries on Russian energy resources. According to him, this dependence was largely due to the mercantile policy, carried out by the former German chancellor Angela Merkel, who concluded special transactions with Moscow for gas supply. “I think that Putin very cleverly blackmailed Europe, threatening to turn off the gas, but in fact his arguments are much less strong than he thinks,” the billionaire said.
Soros recalled that last year Russia placed gas in its storage facilities instead of exporting it to Europe, creating a shortage that raised prices and made Russia good revenue. But the storage facilities are filled, and Russia has no other place for gas supply, except Europe, since this is its only market. “Europe takes a much stronger position in this matter what she believes,” Soros is convinced of.