We had previously warned that Putin's "trump card" had yet to be played and with Obama (and a quickly dropping list of allies) preparing economic sanctions (given their limited escalation options otherwise), it was only a matter of time before the pressure was once again applied from the Russian side. As ITAR-TASS reports,
Russia's Gazprom warned that not only could it cancel its "supply
discount" as Ukraine's overdue payments reached $1.5 billion but that "simmering
political tensions in Ukraine, that are aggravated by inadequate
economic conditions, may cause disruptions of gas supplies to Europe." And with that one sentence, Europe will awaken to grave concerns over Russia's next steps should sanctions be applied.