The Moscow Times: MH17 Crash Prompts Dutch to Rethink Energy Ties With Russia

The Netherlands is reviewing its extensive energy ties with Russia after the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine a month ago in an attack that killed nearly 200 Dutch nationals, officials and analysts said.

Successive Dutch governments boosted political and economic ties with Russia, which has become a leading fuel exporter to the Netherlands as it pursued a strategy to become Northwest Europe's main energy hub.

Fuel imports from Russia to the Netherlands ballooned from 728 million euros ($974 million) in 1995 to 19 billion euros ($26 billion) last year.

The Netherlands was the No. 1 export destination for Russia in 2013, including more than 8 billion in oil and gas sold on to other countries, at 29 billion euros, figures from Eurostat and Statistics Netherlands show.
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