There are reports in the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal about the Ukraine’s discussions with Russia on energy supply deals being hampered because of the country’s defense of Georgia’s sovereignty following the invasion in August. This is interesting because we are told over and over by the company’s executives that Gazprom’s decisions are purely commercially motivated and aimed toward profit maximization – not the fulfillment of the Kremlin’s political goals. If that’s the case, then it should be entirely irrelevant what the position of any government is which happens to be a Gazprom customer. Nevertheless, I imagine the Russians are feeling a good deal of impunity in their energy squeeze on the Ukraine now that Angela Merkel has spoken out against NATO MAP status. Bad timing from the Germans… From the FT:

“Unfortunately, rather than occurring on the backdrop of improved relations, our meeting comes amid difficult conditions,” Mr Putin said at his residence outside Moscow. With Ms Tymoshenko at his side, Mr Putin referred to the “indecisiveness of decision-making” in Kiev which, he added, was “itself due to the internal political situation”. (…)