Latest Articles about Baltics
ESTONIAN PRESIDENT’S U.S. VISIT REFLECTS A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
U.S. President George W. Bush received Estonian President Toomas Ilves for a two-hour meeting at the White House on June 25, a high point of Ilves’ June 24-27 visit to the United States. Bush had paid a visit to Estonia as recently as November 2006,... MORE
BALTIC SEABED GAS PIPELINE PROJECT: FAR FROM A DONE DEAL
Leaders of Estonia and Lithuania have publicly joined the growing ranks of critics and skeptics regarding Nordstream, the Russo-German Baltic seabed pipeline project for Russian gas. With Nordic countries along the proposed pipeline route raising environmental and security concerns, its commercial rationale increasingly questioned, and... MORE
RUSSIAN STRATEGY, EU DRIFT IN ESTONIA
Russia’s ongoing political offensive against Estonia -- and implicit challenge to the European Union -- constitutes the first serious attempt to reverse the post-1991 status quo in Europe. Moscow seems to be targeting Estonia as a first test case of such a process. Further Russian... MORE
RESISTANCE GROWING TO THE BALTIC SEABED PIPELINE PROJECT
The Russo-German project for a gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed is meeting with growing skepticism and resistance in the region. The Gazprom-led consortium, Nord Stream, has now unwittingly added to those concerns. It has distributed a poorly substantiated, omission-fraught information package to countries around... MORE
QUESTIONS MULTIPLY ON THE BALTIC SEABED PIPELINE PROJECT’S VIABILITY
Gazprom-led Nord Stream, the Russo-German project for a gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed, is running behind schedule on construction of the overland section in Russia and faces cost projection overruns on the seabed section. If actually carried out, the project might end up operating... MORE
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT SPELLING OUT BALTIC OIL TRANSPORT PLANS
Addressing the “Pipeline Transport 2007” conference in Moscow on April 17, Transneft president Semyon Vainshtok and Deputy Industry and Energy Minister Andrei Dementiev declared that expansion of the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS) is currently the Russian government’s number-one priority for oil transportation (Interfax, RIA-Novosti, April... MORE
POLISH COMPANY ACQUIRES MAJORITY STAKE IN LITHUANIA’S OIL SECTOR
Lithuania’s oil industry holding, Mazeikiai Nafta, seems finally to be safe from takeover by Russian state-connected interests. The holding’s centerpiece, the Mazeikiai refinery, is the only refinery in the three Baltic states and the single most lucrative business entity in the three states. The Russian... MORE
MOSCOW PRESSING FOR CFE TREATY RATIFICATION DESPITE ITS OWN NON-COMPLIANCE
Amid a deep secrecy that belies its democratic professions, the OSCE is preparing to hold a Conference to Review the Operation of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) in Vienna at the end of this month. Some West European chancelleries are seeking ways... MORE
BIDDING FOR YUKOS ASSETS IN LITHUANIA
The bidding is officially on for the Yukos company's last remaining major asset -- the Mazeikiai oil refinery and associated enterprises in Lithuania. Those enterprises, including the Butinge oil loading maritime terminal and Birzai supply pipeline, together form the largest business entity in Lithuania. On... MORE
COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S BIASED RAPPORTEUR OVERRULED ON LATVIA
As anticipated (see EDM, October 24), Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur Gyorgy Frunda's alignment with Russian policy on Latvia has backfired. On November 23 in Paris, CEPA's Monitoring Committee overruled Frunda's recommendations regarding "national minority rights" in that country and discontinued the monitoring procedure... MORE