--- description: For some countries, the idea of energy independence from Russia is really just a pipe dream title: Russian Gas Cuts to Ukraine Are Putting These Four Countries on Edge image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0414a706a7d0e946/698697d4adae44c509543b81/467548877.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 4 Countries That Get Every Last Drop of Natural Gas From Russia  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 16, 2014 9:06 PM CUT  A section of the Trans-Siberian Pipeline - Russia's main natural gas export pipeline, on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014. A section of the Trans-Siberian Pipeline - Russia's main natural gas export pipeline, on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014.Vincent Mundy—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 16, 2014 9:06 PM CUT Russia cut off gas shipments to Ukraine Monday, offering a blunt display of its power to squeeze gas flows to Europe—or in the case of a few vulnerable nations, run them dry. A [graph](http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21600111-reducing-europes-dependence-russian-gas-possiblebut-it-will-take-time-money-and-sustained "undefined") by the _Economist_ arranges European nations in descending order of dependence on Russian gas, four of which stand on the extreme end of vulnerability. Lithuania, Estonia, Finland and Latvia drew 100% of their gas supplies from Russia in 2012\. Not one drop of energy independence came from alternative suppliers.  These are not the sole measure of dependence. All of these countries maintain reserves in anticipation of supply shocks, politically motivated or otherwise. Even Ukraine announced in the wake of Monday’s cut that it had enough reserves to fuel the nation through December. The graph does show however that for a few European nations, the goal of energy independence from Russia remains, at best, a pipe dream. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2882185/russia-natural-gas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2882185/russia-natural-gas/"},"headline":"4 Countries That Get Every Last Drop of Natural Gas From Russia","datePublished":"2014-06-16T21:06:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:16.078Z","description":"For some countries, the idea of energy independence from Russia is really just a pipe dream","url":"https://time.com/2882185/russia-natural-gas/","keywords":["Ukraine","russia","energy","Natural gas"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0414a706a7d0e946/698697d4adae44c509543b81/467548877.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0414a706a7d0e946/698697d4adae44c509543b81/467548877.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian And Ukrainian Gas Pipelines As Ukraine Gas Debt Raises Concern","caption":"Russian And Ukrainian Gas Pipelines As Ukraine Gas Debt Raises Concern","creditText":"Vincent Mundy—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2882185/russia-natural-gas/","name":"4 Countries That Get Every Last Drop of Natural Gas From Russia"}}]}] ```