Russia, in its latest instance of thuggish behavior, is calling a meeting of the United Nations Security Council with the expected purpose of blaming America for sabotaging its gas pipeline to Europe. 

European officials are saying that leaks from undersea pipelines used to deliver gas to Germany and the rest of Europe from Russia were likely the result of “sabotage.” While they mostly stop short of pointing the finger directly at Moscow, the Kremlin is lashing out in another direction, indicating that it believes America is the top suspect in this week’s Baltic Sea explosions involving the NordStream pipelines.

“On February 7, 2022, Joe Biden threatened to end #NordStream,” the Russian foreign ministry tweeted, quoting its spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova. “@POTUS must give a definitive answer whether the United States acted on its threat on September 25 and 26, 2022.”

Earlier today the Russian deputy ambassador at the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, tweeted, “Russia requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting on the acts of sabotage against #Nordstream1 and #NordStream2.” The council is scheduled to convene Friday afternoon at the Kremlin’s request, and mutual accusations will likely be bandied about. 

While proof is difficult to come by — the mystery may never be solved — most in Europe and America assume it was Moscow that blew up the pipelines. The reasons that are quietly put forward include that Russia is aiming to raise global energy prices, increase Western Europe’s dependence on Russian energy sources, and give a hint as to how far President Putin is willing to go to break Europe’s unity in support of Ukraine. 

If Russia did it, a Europe watcher at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, Iulia-Sabina Joja, says, it would be “to create divisions and intimidate, because the only way Putin can win the war is by creating division in order to end European support for Ukraine.” The Russians “realize that there is nothing else they can do, so they’re trying to intimidate the West.”

Yet, she adds, Mr. Putin’s crazy-man act may not work.

Most Europeans are already aware that Russian gas is unlikely to reach the continent this winter. In response, the Germans have filled their oil reserves to capacity, halted the shutdown of nuclear plants, and cut deals with Qatar and other producers to deliver gas. “The Russians know at this point that the EU will not need them anymore,” Ms. Joja told the Sun. 

It could, however, take some time before those alternative energy sources actually reach the continent — and that, likely, is what Moscow is counting on. Russia already cut off gas deliveries to Germany through the NordStream 1 pipeline in August. Before that, Germany ceased the NordStream 2 project on the eve of Russia’s Ukraine invasion.

The loss of deliveries to Europe could eat into Russia’s revenue streams significantly, and may eventually turn some of Mr. Putin’s most important domestic allies — oil oligarchs enriched by energy sales — against him.

Europe, meanwhile, is playing catch-up after decades during which it happily allowed Russia to dominate its energy markets. Germany and others on the continent have long ignored warnings about overdependence on Moscow. 

“German elites genuinely believed that by maintaining relations with Russia they could keep its aggression at bay,” a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Dalibor Rohac, says. Now, he adds, many politicians are “embarrassed,” as a “consensus is emerging that is not favorable to Russia.”

The Trump administration warned the former German chancellor, Angela Merkel, against completing the NordStream 2 pipeline, arguing the project would tie Germany to the Kremlin and make Europe dependent on Russia for its energy needs.

“We always knew the Merkel-German government was trapped by their tradition of not paying their NATO obligations while feeding the Russian beast,” Mr. Trump’s former ambassador at Berlin, Richard Grenell, told the Sun. President Biden, in contrast, “gave the German policy aid and comfort — only to end up in a Ukraine war,” he added. 

The Biden administration is now the chief supplier of arms to Ukraine, which to date has totaled nearly $14 billion. Europeans, led by Britain, have also contributed significantly to the war efforts. Yet, as some Germans may harbor lingering fears of Russia, Chancellor Scholz is hesitant to deliver tanks that Berlin already pledged to Ukraine.  

Mr. Putin’s ultimate goal is to increase such doubts among Europeans, to divide the European Union, and to strengthen the likes of President Orban of Hungary, who have expressed misgivings about sanctions against Russia. By blowing things up, Mr. Putin tries to “scare the bejesus out of the Europeans,” Mr. Rohac told the Sun. 

Convening the UN security council may well be an attempt to shore up support for Russia at home, as well as in neighboring countries where Russian sympathies linger. It is unlikely, however, to play well at European capitals or at Washington, where even officials who harbored similar sympathies in the past are now turning their backs to Russia.