On July 14, Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller and RWE president Juergen Grossmann signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would, if implemented, open a new stage of Gazprom’s expansion into Germany and Europe (Interfax, DPA, Gazprom and RWE press releases, July 14).The Essen-based RWE (Rheinisch-Westfaelisches... MORE

President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is “caught in a vice, which will only continue to tighten,” between democratically motivated Western pressures and Russia’s “interest in acquiring attractive Belarusian assets from a vulnerable Lukashenka,” according to David Kramer and Wess Mitchell (www.charter97.org, July 9). If so, Western sanctions... MORE

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych hinted on July 8 at an imminent vote in the Verkhovna Rada to allow the sale of assets from Naftohaz Ukrainy to foreign investors. Yanukovych did not name these, but alluded to Gazprom. Indeed, exploratory discussions have taken place exclusively... MORE

Lithuania has become the first EU country to start implementing the EU’s Third Package of energy market liberalization laws. Estonia is considering a move in the same direction, possibly by October. Meanwhile, Latvia has postponed a decision, awaiting potentially fateful elections. In Lithuania (as elsewhere... MORE

On June 30, the Lithuanian parliament adopted legislation barring the supplier of natural gas (in this case, Gazprom) from owning or operating pipelines in the country. This conforms with the European Union’s Third Package of energy market legislation, which was adopted by the EU in... MORE

Attending the Lithuanian-chaired, Community of Democracies annual event in Vilnius on July 1, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Lithuania’s energy security strategy on its three levels: the national, regional, and European. The political endorsement accompanies specific energy projects being launched by American companies... MORE

Within days after the European Commission had cleared Croatia to join the EU (Financial Times, June 22), political harassment of Hungarian MOL has intensified in Croatia. Russian interests are conveniently using local allies to wrest operational control of INA, the Croatian oil and gas company,... MORE

Moscow has indicated its interest in increasing trade with China but a major bilateral gas deal remained elusive. During talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in Moscow on June 16, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed what he described as the positive development of bilateral... MORE

Moscow has indicated its interest in increasing trade with China, but a major bilateral gas deal remained elusive. During talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in Moscow on June 16, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed what he described as the positive development of bilateral... MORE

While the developed world, including the United States and other Western European countries, has been sluggish in both economic recovery and energy demand, China has experienced major power shortages in recent months, seriously threatening the efforts to sustain the still fragile recover process. The world’s... MORE