Reports: Russia using oil as an instrument in its foreign policy
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  • After the Czech Republic signed am agreement with the United States to host tracking radar for an anti-ballistic missile system that Russia vehemently opposed, the authorities in Prague reported that the flow of Russian oil was fluctuating. In a statement on July 11, Czech officials asked the Russians to explain the decline.

    Russia is the world’s largest energy exporting nation, if exports of oil and natural gas are counted. Many eastern European nations were wholly dependent on Russia for fuel. In January 2006, Gazprom, Russia’s gas company, cut gas supplies to Ukraine for three days, about a year after the protests known as the ‘Orange’ revolution ushered in a pro-Western government. On July 21, Russia’s prime minister and former president, Vladimir Putin, instructed his government to restore the Czech Republic’s flow of oil1.

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