Russia cut natural gas shipments to Europe by 60 percent, and announced plans to eventually cut off shipments through Ukraine altogether.
The Urkainian route will be replaced with a new pipeline through Turkey, which will take a couple of years to build. The European Union will need to build its own infrastructure to take the gas from the Greek border to the rest of Europe.
If the Europeans don’t get their new pipelines built in time, Russia will send its gas elsewhere, the head of Gazprom said. Russia is working on gas deals not only with China, but with India.
Vladimir Putin is not a helpless victim of economic sanctions and falling oil prices. He is willing and able to use Russia’s economic power to damage Ukraine and the European nations.
Nobody benefits from this cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation. It’s an economic form of mutually assured destruction.
Russia Fires Ukraine as Natural Gas Transit for Europe by Michael Collins for Op-Ed News [added 1/16/2015]
Russia Just Made a Bold Move to Keep Its Gas Leverage on Europe by Elena Holodny for Business Insider.
Russia to cut EU gas transit through Ukraine by Peter Tepper for EU Observer.
Russia to Shift Ukraine Gas Transit to Turkey as Europe Cries Foul by Bloomberg News.
Tags: Europe, Gas Pipelines, Gazprom, Natural gas, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine
Phil Ebersole's Blog 
January 15, 2015 at 9:12 pm |
To strengthen the argument that Turkey should be included in the EU?
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January 15, 2015 at 9:13 pm |
Reblogged this on Citizens, not serfs.
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January 16, 2015 at 7:53 am |
Obviously Russia doesn’t want Turkey in the European Union, but maybe the fact that Turkey has options will make the EU stop treating Turkey as an unwanted stepchild.
I don’t think Turkey would join Putin’s Eurasian Union, but the Turkish government may well took to closer economic relations with Russia as well as Iran and the Central Asian nations.
I don’t know much about Turkish politics and policy, but that’s how I would think if I were in charge in Ankara.
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January 16, 2015 at 8:47 am
Yes, that’s interesting. And putting the pipeline through Turkey increases both Turkey and Russia’s leverage on Europe. There are several problems with Turkey from Europe’s perspective – European countries are very politically stable. They change gradually. Turkey in common with most Middle Eastern countries can swing to an opposite extreme overnight, and back again. Now that I now live in that country called EU, that is an experiment I don’t wish to be a part of.
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