Via the distant shores of Ultima Thule comes this Kyiv Post article illustrating how CIS states such as Ukraine and Georgia are beginning to take steps to reduce the power that Russia has over them through its dominance of the energy industry.
The flow of oil in a key Ukrainian pipeline will be reversed to carry oil shipments from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to Western Europe, instead of pumping crude from Russia to the Black Sea port of Odessa, the Ukrainian and Georgian prime ministers said Feb. 28.
It really is only a drop in the ocean at the moment, and there are hard limits to how much Caspian oil and gas can be shipped via Ukraine, but it makes Ukraine just that tiny little bit less vulnerable to Russian pressure.
Comments on this entry are closed.