Dangerous escalation in Ukraine. Athens in a state of … alarm

By Dimitris Gatsios

Minute by minute, the Greek capital is watching the dramatic developments and the new escalation of tension on the Russian-Ukrainian border. The … bomb dropped by President Putin, with his decision to recognize the independence of Donetsk-Lugansk, causes a strong blow to the diplomacy front and now all eyes are on the reaction of the United States of America and the European Union. The move by the Russian president, in fact, comes just twenty-four hours before the meeting in Geneva of Messrs. Anthony Blinken and Sergei Lavrov and in the aftermath of the Summit of the “27” leaders in Brussels, with the messages it sent.

In Athens, the developments after the speech of the President of the Russian Federation are rapid. Early this morning, at the Maximos Palace, the Government National Security Council will hold an extraordinary meeting, chaired by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with the participation of the Minister of Environment and Energy, Costas Skrekas, in order to discuss all scenarios related to the next difficult incident on the Russian-Ukrainian border, but also the country’s energy security.

In particular, during the KYSEA meeting, the consequences that will have in our country and in the energy sector the developments on the Ukrainian front are expected to be analyzed and the energy adequacy, the supply of natural gas and the alternative solutions will be discussed. “We had the opportunity in Brussels to reiterate the unity of the European Union, our full coexistence and solidarity with our Euro-Atlantic allies. I think the framework is very clear. There will be very serious sanctions if Russia chooses to invade. “We hope and want to keep the channels of communication and diplomacy open with Russia,” he said in an interview with Deutsche Welle on Saturday morning. On the domestic front, yesterday’s dramatic developments put at the forefront of the government’s strong concern about new gas price hikes, which are expected to bring an even greater wave of accuracy to the budgets of millions of households and businesses. The signals for support of the vulnerable social groups through targeted measures are continuous, however no one is able to predict the … balance of terror, since the escalation in the Ukrainian adds continuous episodes to its canvas.

Meetings within the government staff on the effects of a possible war between Ukraine and Russia on the economic and energy fronts are ongoing. It is recalled, for example, that last Monday, February 14, Kyriakos Mitsotakis had convened an extraordinary teleconference, with the participation of his close associates and energy market players. The Prime Minister has asked to be informed and to analyze all the scenarios of the crisis and the consequences that the escalation of the tension on the border of Ukraine will have for our country, since Russian gas covers 40% of the annual needs of Greece. According to the analyzes, the worst-case scenario is to completely cut off the country’s gas supply to the country. An element that would cause a power deficit of even 20%. In such a case, the gap will have to be filled by LNG loads, through supply from the Revythousa facilities and from the Azeri gas that reaches Greece via the TAP pipeline. In this context, in fact, Athens and Cairo are stepping on the gas for their electrical interconnection, as decided by the Prime Minister and President of Egypt, Al Sisi, in the recent four-day meeting in Brussels and on the sidelines of the European Union Summit. -African Union.