When two fight, the third... doesn't get his oil

[innonimatu]

What I don't understand is why the Kremlin made this move now. Lukaschenko had been an ally. Has something changed in Belarus? Was this really only about the price? Doesn't make sense, the russian government has plenty of money avaliable now, compared to a few years ago.
Is Putin so certain he has already outmatched the americans in the Eurasian board, that he will dump an ally like this? Or is there another reason that Russia must remind Europe of its energy dependency right now?

 

[Imcalfin]

What I don't understand is why the Kremlin made this move now. Lukaschenko had been an ally. Has something changed in Belarus? Was this really only about the price? Doesn't make sense, the russian government has plenty of money avaliable now, compared to a few years ago.
Is Putin so certain he has already outmatched the americans in the Eurasian board, that he will dump an ally like this? Or is there another reason that Russia must remind Europe of its energy dependency right now?

There is also the mundane possibility that the previous contract ran out just now. Russia has been getting rid of the old subsidised prices for a while so this shouldn't come as a great surprise. Besides, who is Lukashenka going to turn to? He is land-locked and the other neighbours love him even less than Putin. The time for Russia to squueze is now when there still is gas and oil to sell.

As a little sideline: BBC news had this little gem in its Q&A about the Russian oil row.
"But some countries may be harder hit than others if the dispute is a lengthy one.

Poland replies on the Druzhba pipeline for more than 70% of its oil supplies, while Finland gets 79%, Slovakia 82% and Hungary 89.5%."

We here in Finland sure buy the majority of our oil from Russia but I am fairly certain it does not travel through Belarus on its way here.

 

[Commie #4522]

did you even read your OWN article? it says Europes supplies are fine

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

In Soviet Russia, blackmail Putins YOU!!

Beaten to the joke!

However, I was going to say:

In Soviet Russia, oil buys YOU!!

 

[Imcalfin]

did you even read your OWN article? it says Europes supplies are fine

I assume that this is directed at me since there is no indication of otherwise. Firstly, I obviously didn't write the article myself but I did read it. Secondly, yes, I am aware that European countries have strategic reserves. The party being squeezed at the moment is Belarus. Thirdly, the quoted bit was just poking some fun at BBC. If you don't see the odd part, and I don't mean the egregious misspelling, I suggest looking at a map.