Foreign Policy, Energy Policy, Every Policy

A diplomat who witnessed negotiations between President Vladimir Putin and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov shared his delighted reaction with me: “Niyazov,” said the diplomat, “answered every question on gas with ‘That’s for the managers to decide.’ But not Vladimir Vladimirovich: He knew every figure and the route of every cubic meter of gas. You got the impression that a professor was talking with a puppy dog.”

During the gas scandal between Russia and Ukraine, Putin has again demonstrated how amazingly well informed he is. He knows everything: how much Ukraine sells its gas to users for, how much Russia gets for its gas on the internal market and how much gas goes for at the drawing point in the German city of Baumgarten. Those who have dealt with Putin during the gas scandal may have gotten the impression that they were talking not with the president of Russia but with the CEO of Gazprom.

The Moscow Times