Why Germany is hooked on Russian gas

How Germany got stuck paying for Russia's war.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU has
sanctioned much of Russia's economy, but Russia's natural gas trade remains untouched. The EU gets nearly a quarter of its energy from natural gas, and almost half of that comes from Russia, the world's largest gas exporter. As the EU's largest economy, Germany is Russia's biggest customer, paying
Russia's state-owned gas company 200 million
euros. So while Germany has even sent Ukraine
weapons, in a historic shift of military policy, through its gas supply Germany is helping to pay for the war it's trying to stop.
It's inherently hard to pivot away from piped gas
Unlike oil and coal, which can be rerouted, gas
pipelines cost billions, take years to build, and
physically connect producer and buyer directly, making them long-term commitments. That was the origin of Germany's dependence on Russian gas.

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S01E36 - Putin's war on Ukraine, explained