Amid much shock and confusion, as of last Friday the EU appears to have decisively moved to put a stop to Gazprom’s long-running pipeline gambit—a series of moves designed to gain pricing leverage over Europe’s energy market while also isolating Ukraine. The Ukrainian element was not incidental, and the strategy had three goals: First, to stop Kyiv having any leverage over Gazprom and Moscow by removing it as major transit country for Russian gas. Second, to strip Kyiv of the accompanying transit fees that amount to approximately 2 percent of Ukrainian GDP. And Third, to make Kyiv, without its own …read more
Source: The American Interest
