European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin cutting 80% of the pipeline gas supply to the European Union was a "big strategic mistake" as it backfired.
"He thought that he could blackmail us" and put the bloc on its knees, but "the contrary is the case because we now completely diversified away from the Russian gas," Von der Leyen explained while answering questions at the Munich Security Conference.
The EC chief went on to say that this situation also sped up the process of turning to clean energy. The biggest paradox here is that Putin's war is what accelerated the European Green Deal and global infrastructure in renewable energy, Von der Leyen concluded.
