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Originally Posted by sniborp
Ukraine wants to get in the EU, and so it's very unlikely ukraine will block the pipelines in view of upsetting their western neighbours.
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They don't have to block it. They can restrict the flow or divert some of it (essentially, tax it). When you ship your products across another country's territory then it's really in
your best interests to be on reasonably friendly terms with them. Trying to strong-arm them with a 400+% price hike with minimal warning, on the other hand, is just going to piss them off--as Putin has discovered.
Also, the EU has mostly supported Ukraine since they don't want Russia jacking the price of gas around for
political reasons any more than Ukraine does.
It's now moot anyway. Russia is pumping more gas to make up for what's 'disappearing.' They will now have to go back and negotiate a more gradual price increase with Ukraine which is what they should have done in the first place. Ukraine will end up paying market rates but it will be phased in over a couple of years.
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