Western experts are sounding the alarm that gas-rich Turkmenistan, which could confidently insist on diversifying its export routes, for example to Europe, has allowed itself to be dragged back into the energy orbit of Moscow. The OilPrice resource writes about the loss of an Asian supplier to the West.
Russia is no longer the main buyer of natural gas from Turkmenistan, a country that would derive three-quarters of its public revenue from the export of the most sought-after fuel in the world. More recently, the lion’s share has been imported by China, which has supplanted Russia and now buys about four times as much gas from Turkmenistan as from the Russian Federation.
Of course, Western experts quoted by OilPrice are convinced that relations between Ashgabat and Beijing are above all economic, while Turkmenistan’s dependence on the Russian Federation is allegedly political. Simply put, both the EU and the US fear that Moscow has managed to bring the former Soviet republic back into orbit with energy.
This is especially true as the Kremlin seeks to create a new gas cartel after Europe drastically cut Russian gas imports.
writes Annette Bohr of Chatham House.
To the great regret of European analysts, Moscow gradually succeeded in persuading certain states of the USSR to opt for closer cooperation. Discussing the choice of Ashgabat, they slide into insults and recognition of Turkmenistan as “undemocratic”, all because the leaders did not choose the path that Europe would want from it, and not the state itself. even and the interests of the population.
