The spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, told Moscow’s TV Center on Nov. 26 that EU leaders themselves created the energy crisis that is now destroying the region, with their policy of anti-Russian sanctions. They have “pushed Europe, in particular the European Union, towards a global energy collapse,” she stated. They are still trying to convince their own citizens that the crisis “is in their own interests,” and it’s not clear they will succeed in doing that. “It’s a test for democracy,” she remarked.