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Russian envoy blames EU energy crisis on green policies and rejection of Russian energy

Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian presidential envoy and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, has criticised European Union environmental policies and the bloc's decision to decouple from Russian energy, attributing the resulting energy crisis to those choices. His remarks were based on central bank comments and media reports.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 1 distinct · 4 articles Version 1 Coverage Mar 24 – Apr 19, 2026 Published Aug 13

Lead

Kirill Dmitriev, a special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin for investment and economic cooperation and the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund, has attributed the European Union's ongoing energy crisis to the bloc's green energy policies and its decision to move away from Russian energy exports, according to remarks reported by the Russian state news agency TASS. Dmitriev's comments, which TASS says were posted on his X social-media account, targeted European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and EU bureaucrats, accusing them of "fatal and idiotic mistakes" that he said unleashed a "shock" on Europe.

Coverage Comparison

All four articles reporting Dmitriev's statements originate from TASS, the Russian state-news agency. They present the same overall critique but with slightly different focus. One article highlights Dmitriev's accusation that rejection of Russian products caused the crisis; another stresses green policies as a factor; a third quotes him as predicting "tough times" due to decoupling from Russian energy; and a fourth underscores his charge that EU bureaucrats were "too blind" to see the consequences of their decisions. The articles do not contain rebuttals from EU officials or independent verification of Dmitriev's claims, but they do include a reference to a European Central Bank official's comment about energy dependence, which Dmitriev used to build his argument.

Key Claims

Green policies blamed for crisis: Dmitriev wrote on X that "green policies contributed to the crisis the EU and the UK will face," responding to a post from the European Central Bank featuring remarks from its Supervisory Board Vice-Chair Frank Elderson. He used a GIF from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road" to suggest the ECB is out of touch.
EU rejection of Russian energy: Dmitriev asserted that Europe's move away from Russian energy has directly precipitated the current energy crisis. In a separate post, he quoted von der Leyen's admission that the "energy crisis is critical" for the EU, arguing it would be critical because of "fatal and idiotic mistakes in moving away from Russian energy."
Prediction of price spike: Dmitriev earlier said an "oil and gas price tsunami" would "devastate Europe" due to the EU's refusal to use Russian energy. This warning was published in two of the TASS articles, indicating it was repeated across his statements.
EU bureaucrats' blindness: In response to a Bloomberg report on the cumulative effect of the Middle East conflict, Dmitriev said EU bureaucrats were "too blind to grasp the scale of the shock their own bad decisions would unleash on Europe."

Perspectives

Russian official viewpoint: Kirill Dmitriev, as President Putin's special envoy and head of the sovereign Russian Direct Investment Fund, represents a Kremlin perspective that seeks to defend the original basis for EU energy policy with Russia and to present the EU's own actions as the root cause of the crisis. His statements are part of a broader Russian messaging campaign that portrays Moscow as a reliable energy provider and the West's sanctions as self-harming.

ECB official's comment: The TASS articles include a remark from Frank Elderson, ECB Supervisory Board Vice-Chair, which Dmitriev used to support his argument. Elderson noted that Europe's dependence on foreign energy sources complicates the ECB's task of maintaining price stability, and that achieving clean energy targets would reduce exposure to global market volatility. This comment originally made by Elderson, not Dmitriev, was being used by Dmitriev to argue that EU energy dependence—rather than Russian reliability—was the problem.

No EU official response: The TASS articles do not include any direct response from EU officials to Dmitriev's allegations. Independent journalists at outlets such as Bloomberg have reported on the energy crisis and its causes, but they are not cross-referenced in these stories. The claim that von der Leyen admitted an "energy crisis is critical" is not independently verified in the texts provided, and no direct quote from her is reproduced.

Temporal note

The articles were published between March 24 and April 19, 2025, amid ongoing debate over European energy independence and the effects of U.S.-imposes sanctions on Russia. Dmitriev's predictions of higher energy prices and the crisis have partly materialized in recent EU data showing elevated electricity costs, though attribution of those costs to any single factor remains disputed by economists.

Corrections

A source article originally stated that Elderson's remarks were "commented on by Dmitriev" in an X post; this article clarifies that the remarks originated with Elderson, not Dmitriev. No other correction is needed.

Citations

TASS. (2025, March 24). "Kirill Dmitriev: EU's rejection of Russian products precipitated energy crisis." Retrieved from TASS.
TASS. (2025, April 6). "EU's decoupling from Russian energy signals 'tough times' for Europe." Retrieved from TASS.
TASS. (2025, April 7). "Green policies contributed to crisis EU and UK will face - Dmitriev." Retrieved from TASS.
TASS. (2025, April 19). "EU bureaucrats too blind to grasp shock of their decisions - Dmitriev." Retrieved from TASS.

How this outlet told it

A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.

TASS — English as of Apr 7, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC

Framing: Our reading Criticism of Europe's environmental policy — Critical

Facts Included:

Kirill Dmitriev commented on Europe's environmental policy
Dmitriev stated that green policies contributed to the crisis the EU and the UK will face
European Central Bank's Supervisory Board Vice-Chair Frank Elderson commented on Europe's dependence on foreign energy sources

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TASS — English as of Mar 24, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC

Framing: Our reading EU's rejection of Russian products as a cause of the energy crisis — Critical

Facts Included:

Kirill Dmitriev stated that the EU's rejection of Russian products caused the energy crisis
Dmitriev previously predicted an 'oil and gas price tsunami' devastating Europe

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TASS — English as of Apr 6, 2026, 6:15 AM UTC

Framing: Our reading EU's move to abandon Russian energy as a cause of 'tough times' — Critical

Facts Included:

Kirill Dmitriev commented on the EU's move to abandon Russian energy
Dmitriev stated that the EU's decoupling from Russian energy foreshadows 'tough times' for Europe

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TASS — English as of Apr 19, 2026, 3:46 PM UTC

Framing: Our reading EU bureaucrats' inability to see the consequences of their decisions — Critical

Facts Included:

Kirill Dmitriev commented on the EU bureaucrats' inability to see the consequences of their decisions
Dmitriev stated that the EU's decisions will unleash a shock on Europe

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What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimKirill Dmitriev commented on Europe's environmental policy, stating that green policies contributed to the crisis the EU and the UK will face.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Apr 7, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC
ClaimThe European Central Bank's Supervisory Board Vice-Chair Frank Elderson commented on Europe's dependence on foreign energy sources, stating that it complicates the ECB's task of maintaining price stability.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Apr 7, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC
ClaimKirill Dmitriev stated that the EU's rejection of Russian products has directly precipitated the EU's current energy crisis.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Mar 24, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC
ClaimDmitriev previously predicted an 'oil and gas price tsunami' that would devastate Europe due to the EU's refusal to use Russian energy.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Mar 24, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC
ClaimThe EU's decoupling from Russian energy signals 'tough times' for Europe, according to Kirill Dmitriev.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Apr 6, 2026, 6:15 AM UTC
ClaimDmitriev commented on the EU bureaucrats' inability to see the consequences of their decisions, stating that their wrong decisions would unleash a shock on Europe.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Apr 19, 2026, 3:46 PM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 1 distinct · 4 articles consulted: TASS — English 6 claims extracted 1 editorial revision Version 1 Written 2026-08-13