Russian officials say they have received no response from the European Union after an appeal by President Vladimir Putin for emergency talks on natural gas supply to the continent.
Putin has reassured Europe that Russia will do everything it can to keep natural gas flowing to the EU even if Ukraine’s own supplies get cut off for non-payment of their ever-mounting bill.
Russia’s ability to keep the gas coming isn’t necessarily guaranteed, however, as the pipelines to Europe go through Ukraine, and officials concede there is a risk that if and when Ukraine stops getting gas from Russia they might start siphoning it out of the EU-bound pipeline.
Ukraine is courting the EU to sell gas to them, and while EU officials have promised some limited sales at a discount as “aid” to the new government, Ukraine’s long history of not paying for its gas is likely to make it hard to come up with alternative suppliers.
The Obama Administration has angrily condemned Russia for proposing that Ukraine pay for all future gas deliveries in advance, calling the effort to ensure they get paid for a change “coercion.”
It is time for Russia to get serious and close the pipe, it is time for Russia to say no to EU-USG bullying rest of the world with their last resort of fascism and Saudis barbarians, EU-USG has become the second Israel, the ruling EU Neo fascism governments won't understand unless they pay the price, for Israel to understand is for Israel to be totally boycotted, for Europe-NATO to pay attention is for Russia to close the pipes.
Obama calls it coercion. Ha! He and his State Dept should know about coercion.
When has the USG supplied anything to another country and then said the other country does not need to pay for the supplies?
The only country they provide with FREE cash and treasure is the rogue nation of ISREAL.
Russia is well within its rights to seek payment for the gas it supplies to the illegal regime in Ukraine.
Ukraine is now a rogue ,bankrupt Nation without the billions of Russian money keeping them from insolvency. The people of Ukraine shoud turn on these facists who seized power in an illegal coup.
when the gas stops, they will.
Essentially, Ukraine is trying to provoke Putin (and is succeeding quite nicely in Donetsk!). After the "Putin effect" electoral disasters in Serbia and Framce, Putin's neocon handlers will have told him to keep a low profile until after the European Parliament election on 25 May, which they are trying to "fix" in favour of far-right parties. "Yats" is close enough to the neocons to know what game thye're playing and he knows that, until 26 May, Putin has to grin and bear it or torpedo yet again the neocons' EU electoral scam. I think we can take it for granted that Putin will invade Ukraine on 26 May or very soon thereafter. If NATO once again does nothing, Israel will be further damaged. Will America's Israel Lobby let thet happen?
Having grown up in Ireland I have seen that when so-called leaders and pundits swap barbs, threats and opinions over the heads of the people on the ground their efforts are generally futile and, more often than not, totally counter-productive because they further radicalise the various factions. Just look what happened in the Kiev parliament a few days ago. Putin has at least attempted crowd control after western political hooligans a.k.a. USG, EU and NATO stirred up the sides they support and then descended into squabbling amongst themselves and dithering around incoherently.
The pipeline for EU gas supplies runs through Ukraine. So if Russia cuts gas supplies to Ukraine, and Ukraine steals gas meant for the EU, that would leave the EU in the rather embarrassing position of having to invade the nation they just "liberated" to stop the theft. Seems like the US State Dept.'s Vickie Nuland may have been too caught up in the joy of "creative destruction" to really think through the likely outcomes of destabilizing Ukraine, but it wouldn't be the first time that neoconservative delusional thinking has been exposed by their attempts to "create new realities." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_commu…
The pipeline for EU gas supplies runs through Ukraine. So if Russia cuts gas supplies to Ukraine, and Ukraine steals gas meant for the EU, that would leave the EU in the rather embarrassing position of having to invade the nation they just "liberated" to stop the theft. Seems like the US State Dept.'s Vickie Nuland may have been too caught up in the joy of "creative destruction" to really think through the likely outcomes of destabilizing Ukraine, but it wouldn't be the first time that neoconservative delusional thinking has been exposed by their attempts to "create new realities." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_commu…