
Gazprom: Russia's Political Weapon
Gazprom controls the pipelines that heat homes across Europe, and this film argues that control has always doubled as a Kremlin foreign policy tool. It traces how the state-run gas giant grew out of the Soviet energy ministry, became one of the largest companies on earth, and repeatedly cut off or throttled supply to neighbors like Ukraine during price and political disputes, sending shockwaves through European heating grids in the middle of winter. Analysts and energy experts lay out how pipeline routes, from Nord Stream to the transit lines crossing Ukraine and Belarus, were designed as much for leverage over European capitals as for profit. The film examines the tangle of relationships between Gazprom executives, Kremlin officials, and European politicians and business figures who took board seats or lobbied on the company's behalf. It closes on the question hanging over the whole story: whether Europe's dependence on Russian gas was a market outcome or a vulnerability built deliberately, one pipeline at a time.