Russia Can’t Replace the Energy Market Putin Broke: Julian Lee

Russia spent almost 50 years building its energy market in Europe. President Vladimir Putin destroyed it in under 50 weeks. Finding a replacement will be almost impossible.

While Russia has found alternative markets for its crude oil, mostly in India, switching sales of refined products and — perhaps even more so — natural gas will take years and come at huge cost. That’s if it’s even possible to create markets as the world turns away from fossil fuels.

When Moscow’s troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, its European energy customers took fright. A market that soaked up nearly 2.5 million ...