Putin also ordered over 140,000 additional Russian troops … along with 400 more Russian fighter planes and 360 more helicopters are now at the Ukraine border … Starts @ 2:12 - Fair Use - Russia Burning Off $10M in Gas a Day That Would Have Been Sent to Europe: Residents of Finland began reporting a huge jet of flame from across the Russian border last month. Satellite images detected a massive heat bloom that turned out to be a Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant burning off millions of cubic meters of gas that were supposed to be sold to European customers. Senior VP Sindre Knutsson of Norway-based research firm Rystad Energy told Sky News on Friday the Russians are burning 4.34 million cubic meters of gas worth about $10 million every day, destroying enough fuel to supply 1.5 million European homes. The burning is taking place at an LNG plant in the Russian town of Portovaya, located northwest of St. Petersburg near the Finnish border. The plant is located near a compressor station for the Nord Stream 1 undersea pipeline that leads to Germany. Russia cut the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1 down to 20 percent of its nominal capacity in late July, completing a series of escalating restrictions that were supposedly necessitated by “technical problems” with a compressor turbine. The Germans accused Russia of cutting off their gas to retaliate for opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia supplies about a third of Germany’s gas needs. “Gas is now a part of Russian foreign policy and possibly Russian war strategy,” German official Klaus Mueller charged, as LNG prices across Europe skyrocketed. Knutsson added that the “flaring” of flaming gas from the Portovaya facility is blowing about 9,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air every day, a situation he described as an “environmental disaster.” Knutsson speculated the Russians might want that massive pyre of wasted natural gas to be clearly visible from Finland, as a sign of Russian dominance over European energy markets. “There could not be a clearer signal — Russia can bring energy prices down tomorrow. This is gas that would otherwise have been exported via Nord Stream 1 or alternatives,” he said. Starts @ 1:08 - Fair Use - Starts @ 1:18 - Fair Use -
