London, January 9:

Russia’s presidency of the G8 has certainly started with a bang. Vladimir Putin had barely taken over from Tony Blair on January 1 before he was tur-ning off gas supplies to Ukr-aine in a row over energy price.

Putin received thunderous condemnation for this decision. Commentators vied to find the right words to describe this display of old-style Moscow muscle. It was quite outrageous that Russia should bully Ukraine, punishing Kiev for daring to go against the Kremlin’s wishes in last year’s Orange Revolution.

Of course, Putin’s argument that he was simply asking Ukraine to pay a market price for its gas was spurious. Belarus — a client state of Mos-cow — is continuing to get its gas at the hugely subsidised price of $50 per 1,000 cubic metres, and increases for the Baltic states and Moldova are being phased in over time.