When Moscow abruptly terminated the South Stream natural gas pipeline project in December 2014 (see EDM, December 17, 2014), that decision left all of Russia’s potential partners in the Balkans in the lurch. They had all made commitments to Russia and South Stream and, in some cases, serious financial if not political investments in the project, only to be abandoned without warning. Since then, many of these countries have been searching for new alternatives. Yet, despite Moscow’s 2014 decision—and Sofia’s own previous declaration that it would suspend its government’s involvement until the project adhered to the European Union’s Third Energy …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation