This has been a bad week for Europe’s energy consumers, but a satisfying one for Vladimir Putin. European benchmark gas prices on Friday were six times higher than a year ago — but did fall back from an all-time high midweek after Russia’s president suggested Moscow might be prepared to stabilise prices. Politicians once consoled themselves that Russia could never afford to cut off gas to Europe since that would crash its economy. Recent weeks have shown Moscow has no need to turn off the taps: in a supply crunch, it can exert outsize influence even while continuing to fulfil all its long-term contracts, simply by withholding any extra gas.
这一周对欧洲的能源消费者来说是糟糕的一周，但对弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)来说却是令人满意的一周。周五，欧洲基准天然气价格较一年前上涨5倍，但在俄罗斯总统暗示莫斯科可能准备稳定价格后，价格确实从周中的历史高点回落了。政客们曾安慰自己说，俄罗斯永远也承受不起切断对欧洲的天然气供应，因为这将导致其manbetx20客户端下载 崩溃。最近几周的现实表明莫斯科无需关闭天然气供应阀门，在供应紧张的情况下，哪怕是继续履行所有长期合同，它都可以发挥巨大的影响力——只要不提供任何额外天然气供应就行。