Gas provides a tempting form of leverage, and Russia had already used it against Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Moldova. But when Gazprom, the Russian state gas monopoly, followed Putin’s instructions to turn off the spigot to Ukraine, Russia crossed a new threshold.
天然气成为令人垂涎的角力形式，俄罗斯已经用它来对付了格鲁吉亚、立陶宛、拉脱维亚以及摩尔多瓦。但是，当其国营天然气垄断寡头-俄罗斯天然气工业公司遵照普京的指令关闭向乌克兰送气的龙头是，俄罗斯越过了一个新的分界线。