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I think most people assume Putin blew up the pipeline to limit the possibility of his would-be successors being able to sell gas/oil to the West. And Putin has
by lkrubner 4y ago
I think most people assume Putin blew up the pipeline to limit the possibility of his would-be successors being able to sell gas/oil to the West. And Putin has probably rigged the other pipelines with explosives. Otherwise the incentive is too strong: someone in the FSB or the military could kill Putin and start selling unlimited amounts of oil/gas to the West. Putin is well aware how easy life is going to be for his successor, unless he takes steps to limit their options.
- rat9988 4y agoFrom a succession perspective I can see the argument. That said, he has limited his own options. For this whole time, Putin has tried to negotiate, the gas with sanctions lifting and stopping ukraine help from europe. He has lost his only leverage. It would make more sense that the US or ukraine did it, in order to corner russia.
- andy_ppp 4y agoNot really, it could even be the Chinese if you want to get really conspiratorial. However, looking at the behaviour of Russia recently with their non-linear war, $300m spent on information warfare, invasion of Ukraine, support of dictatorship abroad etc. who is the more likely to have bombed this infrastructure is highly debatable at least.