Something worth adding and reading about is how the very existence of the European-Russian gas relationship has it's roots in German 70's and 80's realpolitik initiative that led to the pipes-for-gas contracts between Germany and the USSR. Neither the USSR not Russia had the internal industrial capacity to build this kind of infrastructure to begin with. The belief was that "they" would become reliant on "us". Who could predict that "they" would want to abuse "us"?