Gas Spat Earns Praise for Putin at Home

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s standoff with Ukraine over gas supplies may have angered European Union leaders and denied heat to millions, but at home it’s winning him plaudits.

In turning off gas supplies to Ukraine and Europe, Putin showed Russians that he is in charge as a recession looms and that the West must treat him as a key player in global energy. He also is pushing for higher long-term revenue for Gazprom.


“The more they criticize Putin abroad and the more they fight with Russia, the greater his political weight grows,” said Mikhail Delyagin, an economic adviser to former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and director of the Institute for Globalization Studies in Moscow.

The stalemate has left parts of Eastern Europe without fuel during sub-freezing temperatures, and state-controlled media coverage of it has spotlighted Putin, 56, more than President Dmitry Medvedev, his chosen successor when he stepped down in May.

Moscow Times