Despite Ukraine war, Europe imported even more Russian gas last year

Sanctions, Prices, and Russian Gas Economics

• Several comments argue EU sanctions were poorly designed: they didn’t eliminate Russian gas, just made it more complex and often more expensive to source.
• Others counter that if Europe pays below Russia’s opportunity price or forces discounts, sanctions still “work” by cutting margins and limiting state revenue.
• There is debate whether Russia might even sell at or below cost to maintain market share and avoid costly shutdowns, given gas is swapped for foreign goods rather than “profit” in a corporate sense.

EU Governance and Accountability

• Some see a democratic deficit: voters indirectly influence the Commission via national elections and coalitions, so citizens have little control over key EU energy decisions.
• Others respond that this is simply how the EU is structured: national governments appoint commissioners; dissatisfaction should be channelled through national politics.

Energy Mix: Nuclear, Fracking, Domestic Reserves vs Imports

• Retrospective criticism: Europe should have invested more in nuclear and (where possible) fracking to avoid dependence on Russia.
• Opponents stress fracking’s local environmental harms and Europe’s dense population, plus legal frameworks (mineral rights) that incentivize NIMBYism.
• Some note that Europe has unexploited gas and now heavily invests in LNG infrastructure instead, effectively outsourcing environmental damage and paying a “risk premium” for security of supply.

Renewables, Storage, and Gas as Backup

• One camp claims more wind/solar increases the need for gas to balance intermittency.
• Others say this is misleading: total fossil use still falls; what’s needed is grid reinforcement, storage (batteries, pumped hydro, possibly hydrogen), and better demand shifting.
• There is frustration that conservative/right parties in some countries obstruct grid upgrades, heat pumps, and other demand-cutting measures, keeping gas use—and bills—higher.

Environmentalism, Influence, and NIMBY

• Some blame anti-nuclear and anti-fracking activism (sometimes alleged to be Russian-influenced) for Europe’s vulnerability; others push back, citing ordinary NIMBY concerns and lack of clear evidence.
• Broader critique: Europeans want clean hands but are content to import “dirty” energy and migration control from elsewhere.

Geopolitics, War, and Realpolitik

• Sharp divide: some view the Ukraine war as a US-driven proxy conflict that sacrificed cheap Russian energy and industry; others insist Russia is solely responsible and must be contained, even at economic cost.
• There is discussion of Minsk agreements, broken treaties, and whether restoring relations with Russia after the war would be rational or dangerously shortsighted.

Article Framing and Data Context

• Several commenters find the Yale piece one-sided and thin on context: it notes increased Russian LNG and opaque “shadow” shipments but underplays the overall collapse of pipeline imports and long-term substitution efforts.
• Others point out that most Russian oil/gas revenues now come from non-EU buyers, and that remaining EU imports are politically much less leverageable (LNG via traders, TurkStream scheduled to end).