Friday, January 18, 2008

Russia Signs Gas Pipeline Deal With Bulgaria

Friday, January 16, President Putin signed a 10 billion euro deal with Bulgarian president Georgy Parvanov. The South Stream is to carry Russian gas to Europe, giving Moscow an even greater say on European energy supplies. "Thanks to the personal intervention of President Puting," these two former Cold War allies have now secured a new deal that will "[allow] Russia to send natural gas directly to Europe through Bulgaria and bypassing Turkey, which has been a crucial transit route for Russia’s gas exports to European markets. The agreement on the South Stream pipeline dealt another blow to Nabucco, a major European Union gas pipeline project designed to diversify energy sources and reduce dependence on Russia."
“The E.U., shockingly, acts like a naïve bystander, completely blind to the major strategic reconfiguration that is taking place in the Balkans,” Mr. Minchev said."
To read the full story, click here.
It seems that Russia is acting in a way that is making both the UK and some other European countries to hold disaprroval with Russia's diplomatic actions. From the arguement brought about by the UK's Foreign Secrectary's description of Russian regulation and now the blow to Nabucco could put Russia on the bad side in European minds.

1 comment:

Mayfield said...

Work on the spacing for paragraphs.