February 3, 2009 By James Kimer

Boris Sokolov: An Autopsy of the Gas Wars

sokolov-2.jpg

The gas war: real peace or just a cease-fire?

By Boris Sokolov

The Russian-Ukrainian gas war appears to be over. Agreements have been signed about the procurement by Ukraine of Russian gas and about its transit to Europe through Ukrainian territory. And Russian gas is finally on its way to Europe.

Now the politicians and the experts are attempting to understand what were the objectives of the parties in the gas war, and who gained the more in it and who – lost. The most well-founded, probably, would be a conclusion about how in the end, everybody lost: Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union. But as to who lost what specifically – that’s something about which discussions are possible.