Will Putin use his "nuclear gas option" against Ukraine?

In my last blog entry (11 May, 2019) I stated that,

"Rick Stengel of MSNBC hits the nail on the head when he said that,

"... I actually want to go back to the Ukraine issue ... This is also a potential area of collusion between Trump and Putin ... Why ... Putin annexed [Ukraine Crimea] in 2014 ... He had a soft invasion of Ukraine in 2015 ... Now you have the President of the United States basically saying, "Let's make a deal about this ... If you're Ukraine you're caught between these two corrupt administrations ... " (MSNBC : 10 May, 2019) (my emphasis)"

 MSNBC (10 May 2019)

 

We now learnt that,

"President Trump won't cut support for Ukraine in exchange for Russia doing the same with Venezuela, U.S. officials said as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prepared to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
...
[A] Moscow Times columnist wrote in outlining Putin’s position. “Withdrawing Russian military support for Maduro should also be matched by the withdrawal of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine.”

[O]ne U.S. official familiar with the Ukraine negotiations added,
...
“Ukraine has a big say in this. They are not our client, they don't do what we tell them,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “Then you have France and Germany and the European Union involved, and all of these players are not going to act on some behind-the-door, Trump-Putin secret deal — and I'm not even saying that that's what our president would do." The official added that "even if the president wanted to do that, he couldn’t.”
 ...
 “[T]he additional U.S. aid is “set by Congress, and that’s not going to change.” (Joel Gehrke (right): Washington Examiner : May 14, 2019) (my emphasis)

Underscoring this reporting by Joel Gehrke, Darya Korsunskaya (left) also reports that,

"U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he had told Moscow to free a group of detained Ukrainian sailors and to work with Ukraine’s new president to bring peace to eastern Ukraine.

Pompeo also told a news conference that he had told Lavrov that it was time for Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro, a long-time Russian ally, to quit.

Lavrov said Maduro’s future should be decided by the Venezuelan people and called U.S. pressure on him undemocratic. (Reuters : 14 May, 2019) (my emphasis)

Pompeo and Lavrov

The sheer arrogance of that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, to state that, " ... Maduro’s future should be decided by the Venezuelan people and called U.S. pressure on him undemocratic" when his boss, Putin, is desperately trying to impose his will on the democratic choices of the Ukrainian people, simply beggars belief.

Added to which, Putin's mouthpiece Dmitry Peskov (right), now states that,

"...U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has not called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to "reach out to Ukraine," and this topic was allegedly not discussed at all. "Mr. Pompeo didn't call on President Putin to do this [to reach out to Ukraine's new government].
...
Maybe he somehow did this indirectly, but the topic of Ukraine was not discussed at the meeting with the president yesterday," (UNIAN : 15 May, 2019) (my emphasis)

 The Orwellian Doublespeak of Lavrov and Peskov somewhat reminds us of what Angela Merkel once said of Putin.

" [S]he said that “she was not sure he [Putin] was in touch with reality.” The Russian leader, she added, seemed to be “in another world.” (Marvin Kalb : Brookings : 4 March, 2014) (my emphasis)

It is therefor ironic that this same Angela Merkel who in 2014, the year of the Maidan Revolution, recognized that Putin was not in touch with reality, nonetheless now seems to be economically supporting him by maintaining that the Nord Steam2 pipeline that will make Germany the Gas hub of Europe, and will be the primary economic lifeline for Putin's failing Russian economy, has nothing to do with Putin's attempts to destroy Ukraine. (cf: DW 4 February, 2019)

Since Denmark has not issued construction permits and has requested that Nord Stream change its route, UNIAN reports that,

"Ukraine gas experts point with some alarm to Gazprom's accumulation of gas in European storage facilities. As they fill up, Gazprom leases more storage facilities. The gas in storage, the Ukrainians think, is being accumulated to meet Russia's minimum contractual deliveries to Europe while bypassing Ukraine's pipelines in total." (UNIAN : 15 May, 2019) (my emphasis)

Paul Gregory (right) also informs us that,

"Ukraine’s gas company, Naftogaz, worries that Putin is preparing to launch what amounts to a “nuclear gas option” that will push Ukraine into recession and create gas shortages throughout Europe. Russia’s move, they think, will take place on or around Jan. 1, 2020." (Forbes : 13 May, 2019) (my emphasis)

Recalling what Merkel said about Putin not being in touch with reality, will Putin use his "nuclear gas option" against Ukraine?

(to be continued)