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Opinion
March 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 22
KRUK REPORT:
Europe, Gazprom is going after you
Kateryna Kruk in Kyiv
As a student of political science, I very well re- member the "art of negotiations" class. Among others, we were studying national negotiations styles, with the Russian one among them. As a Ukrainian, I was fully aware of the patterns of Russian behaviour - history has taught us well. But for my Western European colleagues, it was a shocking revelation that Russia, seemingly so close to Europe, is in fact so far away.
That is the mistake that I later often saw among many politicians, journalists or think-tankers. Many still think they can understand Russia from their European perspective to only learn after- wards that they are wrong. That is why many fail to see that in Gazprom's recent decision to tear up its gas contracts with Ukraine, the Russian giant isn't striking Ukraine. It is aiming at Europe.
In the last weeks Russian state-owned Gazprom has seen a dramatic defeat at the Stockholm ar- bitration court to Ukrainian national gas company Naftogaz. "Naftogaz succeeded in its claim for damages for under-delivery in transit arbitration with Gazprom. Naftogaz was awarded damages of $4.63bn for Gazprom's failure to deliver the agreed transit gas volumes. Gazprom will have to make
a net payment of $2.56bn to Naftogaz following the awards in two [previous] gas arbitrations. The tribunal rejects Gazprom's claim for penalties for transit volumes allegedly unlawfully off-taken by Naftogaz,” Naftogaz said on its Facebook page.
The victorious mood in Ukraine didn't last long.
The Kremlin has reached for blunt blackmailing and threatening tactics.
The next day Gazprom decreased the gas pres- sure at the entry point in the gas transmission system at the Russian-Ukrainian border by 20%. Obviously, Gazprom has violated the techni-
cal conditions of the contract with Naftogaz and risked the stability of gas supply to the European consumers.
The internet exploded immediately, linking Gazprom's sabotage with the Nord Stream II pipeline, seeing the decisions to reduce gas pres- sure as proof of how unreliable and politicised Gazprom is. That looked like a disastrous decision for the Russian gas monopolist, which spends millions of euros buying lobbyists that try to con- vince politicians and journalists that Nord Stream II is a pure business, not a political, project.
The following days brought even more staggering news: Gazprom planned to terminate all gas con- tracts with Ukraine. This seems like a suicidal de- cision for a company that delivers about 49% of all European supplies through Ukraine. However, it is not about suicide. It is about threatening and pressuring Europe.
Let's go back to the negotiating particularities of Russia. Russians are known for their confronta- tional, blunt, and combative style. Often what is standing behind this tactic is a willingness to hide weakness.
It is not by coincidence that Russia is often compared to a bear: both of them are ready to