Gas: Russia’s secret agenda Energy supply is a ‘political weapon’

Last week’s confrontation between Ukraine and Russia has fuelled suspicions that Moscow intends to use its dominant position in the European gas market to exert political control.

The decision by the state-controlled Gazprom to quadruple the price of its gas overnight looked suspiciously like revenge for last year’s Orange revolution, which took Ukraine away from the Kremlin’s sphere of influence. That the tyrannical, pro-Russian regime in Belarus continues to pay Gazprom a mere $47 per thousand cubic metres, compared with the proposed new tariff of $230 per thousand cubic metres for Ukraine, suggests that toeing the line with President Vladimir Putin keeps your gas bill down.
The dividing line between Gazprom, the world’s biggest gas producer and Russia’s largest company, and the Kremlin has never been more blurred. Tom James, principal of the energy markets team at accountants Deloitte, says: “Many within the European energy markets doubt the political independence of Russian gas suppliers.”

Both have been flexing their already considerable muscles of late. Last year, Gazprom, which has a market value of over