From IBD Editorials:Energy: Russia signed off on a new agreement for fuel deliveries to Europe, resolving its gas cutoff crisis with Ukraine. But much of what it did this weekend should warn Europe it's time to look for another supplier.
Until Monday, Russia's case against Ukraine looked credible. The latter was a $1.5 billion deadbeat, refused to pay its $600 million in contractual fines, overconfidently insisted on reduced rates in new contracts, and may have been siphoning Russian gas from its pipelines that it was contractually obliged to pay for. There's little doubt Ukraine's actions hurt Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, which was in bad fiscal shape and needed income from reliable customers downstream who paid retail.
What's more, Gazprom didn't appear to have political motives in demanding Ukraine payment — it was trying to boost gas deliveries to Europe through the Ukrainian pipeline to meet its obligations.
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