Instead of flowing toward Germany and the EU, gas supplies on Friday and Saturday started flowing in the opposite direction, according to Gascade, the network operator.

The US Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has frozen over-the-counter trading in shares of several Russian companies listed in the United States.

Natural Gas weekly analysis: My feeling is that the Russian economy will lose more than one-third of its GDP in the coming decade.

The U.S. stock market has been hitting new all-time highs, but don’t let that distract you from exciting things that are happening in overseas markets, specifically in Eastern and Emerging European countries.

The Russian economy remains heavily linked to the price of crude oil, and recent estimates state that gas prices will drop by 37% in Q1, 2016 owing to weakness in crude oil.

Crude oil prices fell by an average of more than 50% between June and December of 2014. Although they have since recovered, they are still more than 40% lower than last year’s highs.

Ukraine says it is not getting the gas it paid for, while Russia says it is not getting paid for gas delivered.

During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this weekend in Beijing, Russia and China signed 17 documents greenlighting a second "mega" Russian natural gas to China via the so-called "western" or "Altay" route.

In general, over the last several decades the world has experienced an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity. The opening up of relations with China and the "end of the Cold War" resulted in an extended period of cooperation between east and west that was truly unique in the annals of history.

The Russians are actually making a move against the petrodollar. It appears that they are quite serious about their de-dollarization strategy.

If Japan moves to restart some or all of its nuclear reactors, many LNG terminals may cease to be profitable.