NEW YORK – For years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has wielded Europe’s dependence on his country’s natural gas as a foreign-policy weapon, without fear of the European Union calling his bluff – until now. With the EU launching an antitrust case against the state-controlled gas conglomerate Gazprom, Europe has sent a clear signal that Putin’s brutishness is no longer as intimidating as it once was.
纽约—多年来，俄罗斯普京一直把欧洲对俄罗斯天然气的依赖作为外交政策武器，丝毫不惧怕欧盟的虚张声势——现在情况有所不同了。欧盟对国有天然气集团俄天然气（Gazprom）发起了反垄断调查，这是一个明确的信号，普京的粗暴已不再像过去那样吓唬人了。