Putin on his knees

PM Petr Fiala affirmed yesterday in the Senate that his government has secured enough natural gas for this winter. It's now working on the second task, he said, which is how to make energy prices affordable. Speaker of the House Markéta Pekarová Adamová said in LN on Mon. that this winter is secure, even though we'll have to cut back a bit, and that next winter will be better. Russia will simply fall to its knees, she said. And what if it does? According to figures in the Financial Times, Russia's daily deliveries of natural gas to Europe are now at 17.5% of last year's average (thanks still to Ukraine and Turkey). If Russia "fell to its knees," not only could this amount be reduced to zero, but Russia's entire oil and gas industry could collapse, denying global markets of major supplies. Pekarová said that Vladimír Putin is trying to create panic and the impression that we will freeze, yet her own scenario is also scary and raises the question of whether we are in fact ready to bear the cost of winning the war.