Quote Originally Posted by mirhond View Post
During the "Gas wars" Russian public opinion was on the Ukrainian side - now it is not, so yes, Putin did a good job at consolidating support for all his actions. Besides, Ukraine drifts Westward for all 20 years of independence, bloody mess in the East just make this move faster.
The NG problem, i.e. the theft of NG by Ukraine or better Ukranian and Russian oligarchs is solved around 2018, when enough additional pipeline capacity, that does not touch Ukraine and Poland, is available for Russia.

Therefore, the support of the Russians in respect to the gas war is not relevant argument, has no substance.

The shift of power from Ukraine to Russia would have happened anyway around 2018. The Ukrainian business model was expected to die.