Ernest
Vlad will not give up control of the pipelines. This is the most important thing to him and his country. I would not rule out any action by him or his interior minister.
Crosslink
When thinking of Ukraine, I always think of farming and it being the breadbasket. I guess the pipelines are more important in today’s world.
See...that makes me think that Vlad will take action as soon as the Olympics are done.
But...remember that the Paralympics are supposed to happen in March in Sochi as well. Do you think he will risk that?
Thanks for the ping!
While the pipelines are important to Putin, in an income-producing sort of way, the Uke is where most of the wheat comes from. Putin may grunt and push but not to the point where he can’t trade for Uke wheat. If he somehow screwed up the ability to get wheat from Ukraine and Belaruss his 175 mill remaining Ruskies would get to be hungry SOB’s.