On February 17, the stakeholders and supervisory board of the Russian-led Burgas-Alexandropolis oil pipeline project shelved the project in all but name. The host countries, Bulgaria and Greece, had (each for its own considerations) recently suspended payments to the project company. The meeting decided to... MORE

Launched in 2007, Gazprom’s South Stream project ran out of potential gas resources by 2009 (thanks primarily to Turkmenistan’s reorientation), and out of potential financing at the same time (due to Gazprom’s declining net profits in Europe). Since 2010, Gazprom’s Italian partner ENI seeks a... MORE

Moscow and Tiraspol seem intent on stonewalling the negotiations on the Transnistria conflict with Moldova indefinitely, and are marshalling arguments to justify the obstruction. For the most part, Tiraspol is fronting for Moscow in airing these arguments publicly. They are reaching ten years and more... MORE

The establishment of the European Union’s External Action Service, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) chairmanship by Lithuania, and the electoral success of Moldova’s pro-European governing coalition, are cumulatively energizing international efforts to unblock the negotiations on the Transnistria conflict. These converging... MORE

Germany is joining a scramble among West-European producers of military equipment for Russian orders. NATO and the United States are silent bystanders to this growing trend, which challenges the Alliance’s defense posture and planning, as well as the US’s hitherto trend-setting role in the Alliance.On... MORE

Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia are each planning to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) reception terminal with a re-gasification plant on their Baltic littorals at Swinoujscie, Klaipeda, and near Riga, respectively. These projects can break Gazprom’s monopoly in the three Baltic States and Poland, creating... MORE

Lithuania seeks the European Union’s support for gas sector reform in line with EU law, against pressures from Gazprom. The Russian company enjoys a supplier’s monopoly in Lithuania and controls the country’s gas pipeline system. The reform, based on EU directives, involves ending the gas... MORE

Ukraine is once again in difficult talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a much needed third tranche of the IMF’s $15 billion stand-by loan which was approved last July. This is another test for the ability of Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, to... MORE

The Russian government’s offer of cheap gas to Moldova, in return for military basing rights (“Cheap Gas for Basing Rights: Russia Offers Ukrainian-Type Deal to Moldova,” EDM, February 4) aims to pressure Moldova’s governing Alliance for European Integration (AEI). That government was confirmed in office... MORE

Russia’s ambassador to Moldova, Valery Kuzmin, insinuated via Chisinau media on February 1 that Moscow can grant Moldova a price discount on Russian gas, as it granted one to Ukraine, in return for military basing rights.Kuzmin said: “Moldovan authorities must execute the conditions of the... MORE