Weaning Europe from Russian gas
The European Union responded to the 2009 shutdown by building "interconnectors" between different countries. As a result, it is easier to shunt gas and electricity from countries that have excess energy to those that face a shortage — though these connections are still patchy and need to be built up. This is relevant in what some analysts, like Rem Korteweg of the CER, consider a possible escalation scenario: that Russia cuts supplies of gas through Ukraine but continues pumping it through its other two pipelines to the West — one through the Baltic and the other through Poland.