Russia offers ‘heating points’ in EU cities

Russian cultural centers in Finland and Luxembourg are welcoming visitors who need to “warm up” as energy prices continue to skyrocket, according to the country’s federal agency for compatriots living abroad and international humanitarian cooperation.

The body, Rossotrudnichestvo, has opened “heating points”, which provide those in need with an opportunity to get out of the cold while enjoying tea or watching a movie.

“Little by little, [the people] are coming. In Finland, Luxembourg, they were already warming up yesterday. The film program is up to February,” a spokesperson told the Russian media on Saturday.

As the energy crisis continues in the European Union, exacerbated by anti-Russia sanctions and a sharp decrease in Russian energy supplies, Rossotrudnichestvo said on Friday. It added that “human warmth from Russia” and its “traditional hospitality” is what “freezing European families” need.

READ MORE: EU says its gas reserves are ready for winter. But there’s a catch

While the agency emphasized that its Russian houses “are outside of politics,” the head of the agency, Evgeny Primakov, made it clear who he believes is responsible for the unfolding crisis.

“Europeans, do not freeze because of your stupid and evil leaders! If your children are wrapped in jackets at home and you have started to save heavily on electricity because Ursula [von der Leyen], Olaf [Scholz] and Emmanuel [Macron] gave away your money for weapons for the Ukrainian Nazis, come and warm up in our cultural centers in your capitals,” he wrote on Telegram.

Apart from having tea and enjoying movies and cartoons, visitors to the Russian houses will also be able to recharge their phones and get involved in “a lot of interesting things going on,” Primakov said.

Following the launch of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, the EU authorities pledged to end their dependence on Russian energy supplies as quickly as possible.

President Vladimir Putin likened the bloc’s attempts to cut itself off from Russian fossil fuels to economic “suicide.”