Turkey and Azerbaijan formally marked the completion of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on Saturday (30 November), a milestone in a major project to help reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. TANAP comprises the longest stretch of the $40 billion Southern Gas Corridor, a series of pipelines that will carry gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah […]
With the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipeline’s completion date on the horizon, it is becoming apparent that the European Union (EU) is struggling to agree on how the project should be handled. While investors see the project as economically sound and beneficial for European customers, the project is mainly seen through a political lens in […]
This summer, Ukraine became another venue for competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In August, then-U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton held several meetings with the Ukrainian leadership; according to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, the hurriedly arranged trip was intended to “underscore U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial […]
The reunification of the Crimea with Russia, the improvement of the relations with Turkey and other signs of the growth of Russian influence in the Black Sea region seriously worry the U.S. U.S. analysts are thinking about developing a special strategy to contain Russia in the Black Sea, using the potential of NATO countries and […]
The deputy prime minister stopped short of specifying an exact month. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine will start operating in mid-2020, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak. “In the middle of next year,” Kozak said, answering the question on when the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would start operating, European Pravda […]
Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act has received overwhelming bipartisan support and proposes targeted sanctions to halt completion of Nord Stream 2, Russia President Vladimir Putin’s natural gas pipeline designed to control Europe. But there has been a procedural delay and time is running out. The act targets sanctions against one company, Allseas, which is providing […]
Russia is trying to exert pressure on the EU to make the Ukraine government sign a short-term gas transit deal and abandon financial claims to Gazprom, the company which could face bankruptcy if all debt payments are enforced under various arbitrations. Gazprom has found itself in an obviously losing position, which pushes its leadership to […]
Almost immediately after Bundestag this Wednesday approved the Third EU Energy Package, Russians realized that the document doesn’t really meet their interests. Against this background, the initial euphoria over Denmark’s permit for building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipe section on its continental shelf evaporated, so the Kremlin decided to approach the key issue of […]
The political crisis in some Arab world countries is highly probable to escalate into a new round of the Arab Spring today. Thus, destabilization of the MENA region will lead to global economic, migration and geopolitical consequences. Europe will be among the most affected regions, Russia being the main geopolitical beneficiary. Protests in Lebanon, Algeria, […]
Anxiety is mounting in Moscow over the threat of a halt to Russian gas transit to the EU via Ukraine as the fateful date of December 31 is approaching. A striking marker of these concerns was the statement made in Brazil by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow could coordinate gas supplies with Kyiv at […]