Russia's decision to redirect the South Stream pipeline toward Turkey came as a shock to many European nations. The European Union's attempts to bargain more concessions from Russians by being intractable on various technical aspects had the opposite effect. Those who pinned their hopes on the project as a source of energy stability were left puzzled and discontented. Although Moscow's move can be interpreted in many ways, it fits into Russia's larger strategy in contemporary international politics.

The idea to empower other crucial regional states to create a multipolar world has long been on Russia's global agenda, and it has recently signed milestone deals with China, Turkey and India during visits by President Vladimir Putin.

To deal with the emerging powers, Moscow needs significant political and material resources. Already a nuclear superpower, under Putin, Russia has also become an energy superpower, with pipelines giving it serious leverage in its foreign policy. Certainly, the current drop in hydrocarbon prices exposed the weaknesses of this "weapon" for Moscow. But even though Russia does not have the power of the Saudi-led OPEC to control oil prices, it still has influence over gas supply. This is, or was, Russia's competitive advantage in foreign affairs. Its current disappointments over Western policy made Moscow play probably its biggest ace too early in the game.

The calculations were by no means emotional. In its original form, the South Stream was going to be an extremely costly, technically complicated project engaging too many states with diverging policies and interests. By "outsourcing" the project to Turkey, Moscow is making the Europeans deal with Ankara — a much tougher negotiator.