Many commentators have seen the gas dispute be­tween Russia and Ukraine as an argument about gas prices. But according to no less an authority than Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, speaking on January 8: “[What the Ukrainians] are fighting for today is not the gas price, but a chance to keep this or that middleman in order to use the dividends for personal ends and personal enrichment.” The Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, has made similar comments about the motivation of “senior political officials” in Ukraine.

This barrage of accusations points to a deeper problem for the European Union: the relationship between opacity and threats to the security of its oil and gas supplies. Europe is sourcing energy from an arc of countries that starts in western Africa, then winds through the Middle East and round to the former Soviet Union.