The gas mafia
Moscow is not alone in the gas dispute with Kiev. The third player is RosUkrEnergo, a controversial broker company of unclear ownership. This is the picture of a country where the boundaries between public and private business are blurred and the ruling class flirts with criminal groups. You can bet, safe! You can also bet that next January, in the harshest season of the year, Moscow and Kiev will face off in the umpteenth “gas war.”
This Russian-Ukrainian battle over Black Gold has now become a winter fixture. The script is set: suddenly, Russia and Ukraine withdraw the existing agreements, the first cuts the natural gas supply, the second no longer ensures the transport of the valuable fuel into Europe, which is left with the shivers. In sum, the two dogs fight over the bone, and the third freezes. This is exactly happened in 2006, 2008 and most recently, in 2009 (see box p.20). It will happen again and again.
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