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Comment by datameta | Hacker News Reader

They used natural gas as a political lever with Ukraine on a constant basis. The same would be the case with Belarussia if they weren't forcefully aligned as political allies (an attempt at which is one of the main reasons of the Ukrainian invasion).

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Let's not pretend there was no fuckery on the Ukrainian side.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Ukraine_gas_dis...

That’s not really the point—the point is that Russia has been observed using its natural gas as political leverage.

Do you have sources Russia used this lever even though all terms of the deal were met? ( basically, the bills were paid ).

The gas bills had a strange ability to grow of their own accord, almost seemingly to the whims of the natural gas supplier. On several occasions Russia cut off supply during winter after disputes, which affected not only Ukraine but Europe. This was a two pronged maneuver which was meant to sour Europe-Ukraine relations and keep Ukraine dependent on Russia. Ukraine's attempted aligment with Europe is perhaps the main driver of the 2014 invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

So you have no sources I presume? And the bills were not paid.

Russia is not obliged to pay Ukrainian bills. They're unreliable partners (both for EU and Russia), they have a history of blackmailing EU with threats to stop gas transit (Ukraine, not Russia threatened EU!), they're stealing transit gas all the time.

Besides, they're used as an enemy, as cannon fodder against Russia. Why would Russia feed them using our natural resources? What's our obligation? It's not their gas, it's not their pipeline (it was built by "soviet occupants").

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