Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics

by Tim Marshall

On average, more than 25 per cent of Europe’s gas and oil comes from Russia; but often the closer a country is to Moscow, the greater its dependency, reducing its foreign policy options. Latvia, Slovakia, Finland and Estonia are 100 per cent reliant on Russian gas; the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Lithuania 80 per cent; and Greece, Austria and Hungary 60 per cent. About half of Germany’s gas consumption comes from Russia, which, along with extensive trade deals, is partly why German politicians tend to be slower to criticise the Kremlin for aggressive behaviour than a country such as Britain, which since 2015 has reduced its supply of gas from Russia from 13 per cent to just 5 per cent of its total usage, although it made itself vulnerable to supply crises by closing its mass storage facility in 2018.