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Germany pays 200 million euros to Russia – every day. Is this Angela Merkel’s fault?

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Vienna (Aftenposten): Germany depends on Russian gas. The war is making more people look with new eyes at Merkel’s reign in power.

Angela Merkel’s good times. In 2011, the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline was opened in Lubmin on the Baltic Sea. Then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (right front). The Prime Ministers of France and the Netherlands also celebrated.

As images of the bloody war in Ukraine flash across television screens, the Germans realize they are helping fund the misery. Controversy has raged over the close ties between Germany and Russia for a long time.

Germany is completely dependent on Russian gas: one in two German homes is heated by gas. It also operates large parts of the German export industry. Half of the gas used in the country is imported from Russia.

Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Germany has paid a staggering €170 billion to the Russian treasury. The Handelsblatt newspaper has calculated that. Russian gas is bought daily for 200 million euros – or 1.9 billion kroner.

Thus, the state helps Ukraine on the one hand and supports Russia on the other. How did Germany end up there?

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