Russia Cuts Off Gas To 2 EU Members Adding Further Tension To The Situation.
Russia is trying to play hard ball by halting gas distribution to some EU members in an effort to gain leverage over the West. (AP News)
“Russia opened a new front in its war in Ukraine on Wednesday, cutting NATO members Poland and Bulgaria off from its gas, a dramatic escalation in the conflict that is increasingly becoming a wider battle with the West.
One day after the United States and other Western allies vowed to speed more and better military supplies to Ukraine, the Kremlin upped the ante, using its most essential export as leverage. It then went even further, saying Russia could halt gas supplies to other European customers.
European gas prices shot up on the news that Poland and Bulgaria were cut off, a move that European leaders denounced as “blackmail.””
Russia needs a cash infusion and the West is of course not going to provide those needed funds. The West, the EU in particular, needs Russian oil and gas to keep functioning and Russia is now calling in that ace card to gain leverage. The United States is now a major oil exporter and it remains to be seen if we will step in and try to provide some of the energy reserves that Russia is withholding. If Russia expands the number of countries cut off from its oil and gas then there could be a major international crisis.
