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Article: Berlin's Russia challenge.
- Article from:
- The National Interest
- Article date:
- March 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 The National Interest, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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RUSSIA HAS found an innovative way to ring in the New Year with its European partners: threatening to cut off energy supplies. At the beginning of 2006, it was gas exports through Ukraine; in January 2007, it was oil supplies through Belarus. Although President Lukashenko backed down and oil again flowed to Europe, the actions of pipeline monopoly Transneft--and President Putin's failure to inform Germany about the impending cutoff--presented German Chancellor Angela Merkel with an unwelcome start to Germany's EU presidency. The Russians insisted that they were only moving to world prices and a subsequent meeting in Sochi produced assurances from Russia that it would ...