All major players in Russia’s energy-centric economy quickly fell into line politically, enabling Putin to use the country’s oil and gas exports as a geopolitical cudgel. EU countries that he could not intimidate militarily, owing to NATO, were wooed with discounts – or punished with price hikes.
俄罗斯以能源为核心的经济的所有大玩家很快纷纷就范，使普京得以将俄罗斯油气出口当作地缘政治大棒。囿于北约而无法采取军事恐吓的欧盟国家用折扣来拉拢——或者用涨价来惩罚。