The Oil Drum

Your claim is simply hilarious. Evil Russians shipping gas to Greece and Turkey under emergency conditions, what a crime! When you show that the current export disruption is engineered by Russia then come back and act like some sort of expert rather than a professional russophobe. The current export crisis affecting Turkey and Greece is created by unusually cold temperatures and hence increased consumption in *Iran* which lacks the slack to offset the 5 mcm/day cut in imports from Turkmenistan (note the small amount of gas involved). In addition, Turkmenistan exported 50 bcm to Russia in 2007 and of this 42.5 bcm was directed to Ukraine and not merely resold by Russia to the EU as you implicitly assert every chance you get.

The common thread in your claims is that Russia takes cheap Turkmen gas and resells it for a profit. This is pure unadultarated drivel. Why would Russia pay for gas it can export from its own production? Clearly the profit on its own exports is much higher. That it choses to ship Turkmen gas to Ukraine and other subsidized markets is quite legitimate, nothing morally or legally is forcing it to subsidize these markets all by itself. It is also fully appropriate for Turkmenistan to keep raising its prices until they reach Russian export to the EU levels and higher.