Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducay
Such a fragile balance as EU has to ramp up sanctions, but don't want to force Russia go nuclear (aka force shutting off gas sales, which would be equally as rough on Russia).
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Yeah, I can't see them shutting off the gas completely as it would hurt them as much as Europe. I could see them shutting off portions though. The 3 northern pipelines that go to northern and western Europe and the far southern route through Turkey are likely all too lucrative to shut off.
The line under the Black Sea and through Bulgaria that feeds the Balkans (including EU and NATO countries Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia) is likely one they could afford to shut down for a while and given the fragile state of the economies there, it would be a good pressure point from their perspective. It would however screw over their biggest and pretty much only European ally (Serbia), but Russia is only in it for themselves at this point.