President Petro Poroshenko, in promising to clean up Ukraine's corrupt energy sector in his annual speech to parliament, said ‘opaque gas fumes will no longer light up Forbes Global Rich List with Ukrainian names.’ Ukraine’s energy sector has been plagued by an alliance of Russia, local oligarchs and a popular belief that home heating should be free. One of Ukraine's biggest lenders, the International Monetary Fund, estimates that energy subsidies cost the global economy more than $500 billion per year. This gigantic figure shows that energy flows are highly vulnerable to capture by corrupt business groups and their political allies, who claim democracy can be traded for protection from modern economic realities. Until the turn of the millennium, oil prices were low and Ukraine was a major oil and gas producer. Pipelines running through Ukraine now bring Siberian gas to Europe - but this infrastructure was built to bring Ukrainian gas to Russia. Ukraine is now unable and unwilling to auction off its sovereignty to Russia in exchange for cheap gas and continuation of corrupt schemes.