Vladimir Poutine multiplies his provocations at the gates of Europe. And now also in Space. For the Kremlin, any destabilization, migratory, diplomatic or economic is an opportunity to recall that Moscow is now an inevitable interlocutor on the international scene. The Russian president has repeatedly had the opportunity to demonstrate this. Whether in the gas crisis, to the Belarusian-Polish border Where Ukrainian, and even more recently by asserting itself as a space power, Russia is on all fronts.
Gas. Europe, a third of whose gas comes from Russia, has been facing soaring prices for months, against a backdrop of rising demand due to the economic recovery with the improvement of the epidemic situation linked to Covid-19. Some countries attribute this increase in part to Moscow, which defends itself. Voices have been raised in the West, however, accusing Russia of knowingly putting pressure on prices in order to speed up the commissioning of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Belarus. Another explosive file over which hangs the shadow of the Kremlin: that of the migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland. Although Moscow this week called for a “de-escalation” of tensions between Minsk and Warsaw, for Westerners, it is Russia which orchestrated, with the complicity of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the sending of migrants there. Thousands of troops are still deployed on both sides, with between 3,000 and 4,000 migrants in the middle waiting to join the EU. Poland has said it wants to build a wall on its border from December.
Ukraine. In the south of Europe this time, Moscow advances with its face uncovered. Tensions have escalated since Russian troops were spotted massing at the Ukrainian border in early November, in Moscow’s response to what it considers a violation of its territory: the presence of ships from NATO in the Black Sea. Since the annexation of Crimea by Moscow in 2014, the situation there has been explosive. Especially since Kiev is still in conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the east of its territory.
Space. The latest illustration of the pressure exerted by Moscow, Russia admitted on Tuesday to having pulverized one of its satellites in orbit with a missile test firing, generating a “cloud” of debris potentially dangerous for the International Space Station (ISS) and a host of satellites. The incident has revived fears that space will turn into a battleground between great powers, eager to experiment with new military technologies. A race in which Moscow, like India, China or the United States, has no intention of falling behind.
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