Moscow intentionally discredits gas transit countries

The business paper Hospodářské noviny writes that political calculation on the part of Moscow underlies the conflict between Russia and Belarus over unpaid gas bills: "Above all this conflict is about convincing the American and Western European public. Russia is trying to persuade Europe that even if it is turning off the gas tap, this is purely a trade conflict. ... Russia wants to show that the transit countries that are restricting the flow of gas to end users in Western Europe are unreliable, and that the Europeans would do better to ensure a direct supply [from Russia]. That argument will come in handy if the West begins to question the necessity of the Nord Stream and South Stream gas pipelines. ... The war with Georgia served Russia's PR purposes in the same way. Georgia was portrayed as an unstable country so that private investors would lose interest in financing the Nabucco pipeline which is supposed to pass right through Georgia."

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