Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
Also, in the 4e timeline, Soviet natural gas might be nearly as important to Europe as Russian gas is today, giving the USSR a bit of economic leverage there (as evidenced by current real-world fears that a strong NATO response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine would prompt Russia to close its pipeline to the west, resulting in civilians deaths due to cold during winter).
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It's really not. Gas hasn't been unimportant, of course, since the 1970s. However, by the 1990s, Germany, the main buyer of Russian/Soviet gas was still using a lot more coal and nuclear fuel. Gas power-stations weren't so common 25-30 years ago. Between 1997 and today gas power-stations almost doubled their share from 8.7 % to 16.1 %, but energy consumption for heating changed more drastically, since until the 2000s, oil and even coal were used in private homes for heating and oil in industrial and commercial buildings as well.
In an era, when the Soviets would have had little else to trade with Europe, they were much more dependent on gas exports than Europe was. All former Eastern Bloc countries were more or less running on coal and nuclear, with oil and gas in the mix only spuriously.
In the 1990s, what Europe needed from Russia or Soviet Union, was not creating problems for them in the security realm. Exports into Russia didn't become a relevant thing until the late 1990s, because purchasing power remained so small. That could be levied differently, had the USSR survived, maybe.
Maybe, the USSR needs to become China to Europe, before China does? There is not a lot of time, though.