Russia’s most powerful weapons now, leaving to one side nuclear missiles, are not the Russian army and air force, but gas and oil. Russia is second only to the United States as the world’s biggest supplier of natural gas, and of course it uses this power to its advantage. The better your relations with Russia, the less you pay for energy; for example, Finland gets a better deal than the Baltic States. This policy has been used so aggressively, and Russia has such a hold over Europe’s energy needs that moves are afoot to blunt its impact.

Russia’s most powerful weapons now, leaving to one side nuclear missiles, are not the Russian army
and air force, but gas and oil. Russia is second only to the United States as the world’s biggest supplier
of natural gas, and of course it uses this power to its advantage. The better your relations with Russia,
the less you pay for energy; for example, Finland gets a better deal than the Baltic States. This policy
has been used so aggressively, and Russia has such a hold over Europe’s energy needs that moves are
afoot to blunt its impact.