Russia has Germany and Europe by its balls over the gas issue. Germany is completely reliant on Russia for it, their economy does not function without it. And here we are in July of 2022 with the Nord Stream One pipe line, the principal source of Russian gas to Germany out of action indefinitely. Germany's largest gas supplier, Uniper is going bankrupt because it cannot handle a few months of disrupted gas supplies (this is before the full shutdown). They are already rationing gas in Berlin for social housing tenants, this in the warmest months of the year not even in the depths of winter. Hungary today declared an 'energy emergency' because of the lack of gas and stated by the autumn Europe will have run out of gas. The writing is on the wall. Because of the Ukraine situation and these sanctions, Russia has been backed into a corner with almost no way of reconnecting with the Western world for the foreseeable. They do have one way however and it is probably their only option other than physically invading Europe... Bring Germany and Europe to its knees economically by depriving them of gas and oil. They then sit back and watch the societal break down caused by having no fuel to heat a house let alone run an economy. And if you think they can't afford to do that they just announced a record 28 billion dollar surplus this quarter from surging gas and oil prices. Archived Link: https://archive.ph/0IFTJ The real fun is just around the corner. And Europe will be forced to meet Russia at the negotiating table with its begging bowl.