Sanctioning Russia through energy? Think twice. Egmont Commentary, 26 March 2014

The EU–Russia strategic partnership is running out of gas. While Moscow is finalizing the annexation of Crimea – at the expense of Ukraine and international law – Europeans are responding with new punitive measures. At first these measures essentially consisted of economic sanctions targeted at the entourage of President Vladimir Putin. Now Europeans intend to go a step further. They want to break free of their energy dependence on Russia. Yet, as legitimate as it may be, the European intention to diversify its energy sources contains a number of shortcomings or even contradictions