Russia has got Europe hooked on cheap energy ‘like cocaine’

Europe has become ‘addicted’ to Russian energy in much the same way a drug user becomes hooked on cocaine, the former US Ambassador to the EU has said. Gordon Sondland, a long-time critic of the continent’s reliance on gas and oil supplies from Russia, believes much of the blame lies with Angela Merkel, Germany’s former Chancellor, whom he claimed had in effect been duped by President Vladimir Putin.And he said in order to defeat anti-democratic regimes such as Putin’s, it was crucial for the West to remain united, rather than indulge in petty squabbles.Mr Sondland, 65, was appointed to the post by former President Donald Trump in 2018 – and he chronicles his experiences of working alongside the outspoken billionaire in his new memoir, entitled The Envoy: Mastering the Art of Diplomacy with Trump and the World.During his time in the job, he also issued prescient warnings about the inherent risks of Europe depending on Moscow for its energy needs – and was a vocal critic of Germany’s decision to press ahead with the construction of the 750-mile, Gazprom-financed, never-officially-opened Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.Speaking via video link from New York, Mr Sondman told Express.co.uk: ‘Cheap energy from Russia was like cocaine – it was addictive. Vladimir Putin and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Image: GETTY) Gordon Sondland’s book is published next month (Image: David Kennerly/David Kennerly)’Angela Merkel really thought that she had a special relationship with Putin.’There’s an old quote from George W Bush where he said ‘I looked in his eyes and saw his soul’ and somebody, I think it was John McCain actually, said ‘I looked in his eyes and saw KGB’.’I think Chancellor Merkel gave Putin way too much credit because things were pretty stable, there was much business being done between Russia and Germany, and they were the drivers of the Nord Stream 2 situation.’We saw Putin as being very, very transactional, and also giving him an enormous strategic advantage of literally picking up the phone and calling the operator of both Nord Stream 1 and 2 saying I’m cranky with Europe right now, turn down the gas, turn off the gas, and he could do it literally like that.’READ MORE: Biden sends precision nuclear weapons to Europe Vladimir Putin ordered his invasion on Ukraine on February 24 (Image: GETTY)Mr Sondland suggested a large part of the problem lay in the fact that European nations, notably Germany, had put all their eggs in one basket.He said: ‘I think the mistake was not Nord Stream, the mistake was not doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on multiple energy sources at all kinds of different price levels.’Because clearly Nord Stream is always going to be the cheapest because it’s going through a pipe, once you’ve paid for the pipe, the molecules can flow without any cost other than maintaining the pipe.’If you have to bring gas from the Middle East if you have to bring it from the United States, there’s far more cost involved.DON’T MISSLukashenko in USSR-inspired move to use children for harvesting work [REPORT]Putin meets with old Soviet Union alliance as he plots breakaway [REVEAL]Lukashenko war bluff called as Belarusian troops at risk of defecting [INSIGHT]  Nordstream’s terminal in Germany (Image: GETTY) Nordstream’s pipeline network runs Russia to Germany (Image: GETTY)’But with that cost, we used to call it a ‘freedom premium’. You’re paying more for the gas, but you know you have freedom because the minute Putin starts acting up, you say ‘fine, shut your gas off, we have lots of other places to get gas from’.’And they’ve never really exploited those opportunities. And we encouraged them, we said ‘look, you think we’re here just trying to sell American gas to you, fine, don’t buy any American gas, buy it from anywhere else, just don’t buy it from Russia.”Asked whether the energy crisis was the key factor at the heart of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Mr Sondland said: ‘It’s an enormous leverage point on the part of the Russians.’Yes, they have nuclear weapons, yes, they have far more personnel than the Ukrainians, but had energy been off the table as leverage, it would have completely changed the complexion of where things are right now. Russia vs Ukraine in numbers (Image: Express)Asked whether the energy crisis was the key factor at the heart of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Mr Sondland said: ‘It’s an enormous leverage point on the part of the Russians.’Yes, they have nuclear weapons, yes, they have far more personnel than the Ukrainians, but had energy been off the table as leverage, it would have completely changed the complexion of where things are right now.’And I’m very much trying to encourage and compliment actually the Biden administration for keeping the EU together and for doubling down, and I hope they do not take their foot off the gas when it comes to supporting Ukraine.’Mr Sondland acknowledged that one of Putin’s key aims was to fracture democratic coalition which has been assembled against Russia since he ordered his full-scale invasion on February 24. Xi Jinping, China’s President (Image: GETTY)Speaking of his time in Brussels, he said: ‘The one thing I learned when I was over there was the thing that worries the Putins, the Xi Jinpings, the Kim Jong-uns, the Iranians, is whenever they see the US and the EU take an issue, whatever that issue is, and work together with no daylight between them, where all of Europe and the US are exactly aligned on something.’It scares the hell out of them because they know if we want to do something together, no one can stop us, we’re too big and we’re too strong.’They want us to start squabbling with each other, the US with the EU over stuff that absolutely is not important – like who cares whether our tomatoes are GMO, or our chicken is washed with chlorine, this stuff is is small potatoes compared to the big things.’That’s what I learned there, and if I were to go back there, I would immediately identify those things that we can work together on with no daylight and really pull us together and put the other stuff aside, because it really advances both of our causes very quickly.’