Lithuania's energy minister has joined Central European calls for Washington to expedite approval for US natural gas exports to Europe to reduce dependence on Russia.

RT and Der Spiegel have recently published a few infographics on trade between the EU and Russia, respectively Germany and Russia, which we reproduce below. This shows why tit-for-tat sanctions could be a really big problem for Europe and why the EU's leaders are probably quietly praying for the crisis to simply go away.

Amid crippling European declines in gas storage and thermal energy production, France’s GDF Suez is reporting a net loss of over $13 billion for 2013 and may move to cut dividends.