Kremlin Envoy Dmitriev: Europe Cannot Survive Without Russian Gas

Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin's special envoy on foreign investment and economic cooperation, didn't mince words Tuesday: Europe, he says, needs Russian gas to survive. The RDIF chief took to X to deliver the line, framing the continent's energy squeeze as a self-inflicted wound.

His post wasn't random. It came as a direct response to Markus Frohnmaier, a German MP with the far-right Alternative for Germany, who claimed the country's gas storage facilities are not adequately filled. Frohnmaier pinned the blame on the CDU and SPD, saying they rejected Russian gas deliveries for ideological reasons.

Dmitriev piled on. He wrote that an inability to abandon what he called the disastrous Biden-think ideology is destroying Germany's economic well-being.

It's the latest in a steady drumbeat from the Russian envoy. Earlier this month he slammed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in another X post, and days before that he praised President Trump's peace efforts along with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

The backdrop stays tense. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in late October that European countries should eventually join talks on the Ukraine conflict, and Putin himself warned that war between Russia and Europe would have no winners — even as he claimed many in Europe are preparing for one by 2030.

For now, Dmitriev's message is clear: Moscow wants Europe to see Russian gas as the only way out. Whether Berlin — or Brussels — is buying it is another question entirely.