CNBC quotes Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Fellow Ian Brzezinski on how the Ukraine crisis has affected oil prices:
Oil and gas are the lifeblood of the Russian economy, and in the midst of geopolitical unrest, oil prices usually rise.
“Higher oil and gas prices are always good for Russia, but Putin thinks far more strategically than that,” said Ian Brzezinski, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who focuses on trans-Atlantic security. “I would also note that he is not just benefiting from the unrest in Ukraine, he is driving it. This is because he wants to destabilize Ukraine so that he can seize more of it, if not all of it.”