"Critical raw materials" - and a temporal connection: Is everyone overlooking Putin's main goal in Ukraine?

Created: 2022-12-14 04:46

By: Felix Durach

Russian President Vladimir Putin sits at his desk in the Kremlin.

© MIKHAIL METZEL/AFP

Did Russia start the Ukraine war over "critical raw materials" in the neighboring country?

Several experts see indications of this.

The EU is directly affected.

Moscow — Almost nine months ago, Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine.

Russia quickly spread the official motives for the so-called “special operation” through state propaganda channels.

Ukraine is committing crimes against the pro-Russian population in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The region must therefore be liberated, the government deposed and the country denazified.

So much for the official Kremlin justification for the Ukraine war.

The West saw in the statements only an attempt by Putin to cover up imperialist expansion policy.

Ukraine News: "Critical Raw Materials" as Putin's Real Interest in the War?

But the Russian president's war in Ukraine could actually be about something else entirely: valuable mineral resources.

Political scientist Olivia Lazard expressed this assumption in an interview with

.

Lazard explained that Ukraine is one of the most resource-rich countries in the world.

Coal and gas deposits are well known.

"But it is often overlooked that Ukraine also has many different types of so-called critical raw materials: lithium, cobalt, titanium, beryllium and a number of rare earths," said the political scientist.

Their combined value is estimated at 6.7 trillion euros.

So Putin may be targeting these critical commodities for his invasion.

Lazard substantiated her assumption at

by referring to the chronological sequence of relevant events.

In July 2021, the EU concluded a partnership with Ukraine for precisely these critical raw materials.

An important sign, because the EU only has comparable cooperation with Canada.

“The first auction followed in autumn to give companies the opportunity to explore the deposits.

The Russian attack followed in February 2022,” Lazard continued.

"By the way, many of the said reserves, such as the largest lithium deposits, are located in the now annexed areas," said the expert.

Putin's interests at war: Ukrainian raw materials as the "backbone of the energy transition" for the EU

According to an EU report on the partnership, Ukraine is one of the ten countries in the world with the largest proven titanium deposits.

In the case of the metal lithium, which is particularly important for batteries, the Ukraine has about a third of the deposits in all of Europe.

Ukraine is one of the five countries with the largest deposits of graphite.

If the Russian president succeeds in gaining control over a large part of the critical raw materials, he could put further pressure on the EU.

The raw materials are the "backbone of the energy transition," explains Lazard.

They are mainly used in electromobility and in the production of solar panels and wind turbines.

A declared goal of European energy policy is to end dependence on fossil energy sources – and thus also on Russia.

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Russia's goals in the Ukraine war: increasing the EU's dependence on fossil energy sources

Control over Ukraine's critical raw materials would mean that Russia would have some control over the EU's supply chains with a view to the energy transition.

Russia could thus increase its dependence on Russian oil and gas imports and generally gain power in Europe.

NATO has also already dealt with this scenario.

In a report by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the subject of "Climate Change & Security Assessment", the defense alliance stated: In the energy transition "it must be ensured that no further dependencies on unreliable suppliers, including Russia and China, arise." By preventing these dependencies So NATO has another reason to support Ukraine in the war against Russia.

Expert sees parallels with the annexation of Crimea: is Putin really interested in raw materials?

As early as July, Andrei Covatariu from the US think tank Middle East Istitute (MEI) pointed out a possible connection between the occurrence of critical raw materials in Ukraine and the Russian invasion in an article.

In his argument, Covatariu referred to the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014. Putin had repeatedly justified this with historical affiliation with Russia.

However, the annexation also gave the Kremlin access to the natural gas reserves off the coast of the Black Sea peninsula.

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The MEI expert also stated that most of the critical raw materials are located in the east and south-east of the country.

In other words, those areas that President Putin declared by decree to be annexed.

That the "critical raw materials" are a main reason for Russia's invasion remains speculation for the time being.