Russia-Ukraine-Europe: What's the Problem?

In this morning's Volkskrant, Arnout Brouwers reminds us (in Dutch) of another factor: shady intermediaries who arrange shady and extremely lucrative arrangements to get Russia's gas through Ukraine to countries further West. Most prominent is RosUkrEnergo, jointly run by Ukraine and Gazprom. Exactly how this works, or why there even need to be such intermediaries only experts who have been following this story for a long time will be able to explain. However, it's not unreasonable to think that as part of this tug-of-war these intermediaries are also fighting for the best possible share in any transaction. Perhaps right now it explains why, even though supposedly supply resumed this morning, the gas isn't making it's way through Ukraine. But even though Putin may not be orchestrating every last move in this saga, there's no question that he controls Gazprom, and that Gazprom is both a major source of income and a key foreign policy tool for his bully state. I for one am happy that in this corner of Europe, there's frequent talk of very ambitious wind-turbine projects in the North Sea potentially capable of providing 20% of all energy needs for surrounding countries by 2050.