Kremlin Envoy Warns Energy Crisis Tsunami to Hit EU

(MENAFN) A top Kremlin envoy has issued a stark warning that Europe is hurtling toward an "energy crisis tsunami," as the economic fallout from the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran continues to send shockwaves through global energy markets and destabilize the continent's fuel supplies.

Kirill Dmitriev's warning lands as crude oil benchmarks have surged approximately 50% since hostilities began in late February — driving retail fuel costs and wholesale natural gas prices to record highs and compounding an energy vulnerability that Europe has struggled to manage since sharply curtailing Russian energy imports following the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

"More to come as the energy crisis tsunami hits the EU/UK imminently," Dmitriev wrote on X, responding to a Swedish journalist who highlighted that Germany's far-right AfD party had drawn nearly level with the CDU and SPD combined in the latest polling — describing the realignment as "a political earthquake." The comment reflected a broader continental trend, as mainstream parties across Europe have steadily ceded ground to far-right and center-right forces in recent years.

The Iran-linked supply disruption has already forced policy reversals at the highest levels. The UK announced Wednesday a temporary license permitting imports of Russian-origin diesel and jet fuel, a measure aimed at steadying markets rattled by threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint through which roughly 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows. The move closely followed a US decision earlier this week to extend a sanctions waiver allowing limited purchases of Russian seaborne oil.

Pressure is also mounting within the European Union itself. A growing number of officials have openly called for restoring energy ties with Moscow to contain the crisis. The European Commission, however, has held firm, ruling out any return to Russian energy imports and reaffirming its commitment to a full phase-out of Russian fossil fuels by 2027.

Dmitriev has long anticipated this moment. Earlier this year, he predicted the EU would "inevitably beg" for Russian gas as energy prices continued their upward climb, and further warned that the bloc now sits last in line among Moscow's energy customers as Russia pivots its export strategy toward other markets.

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