A Snapshot of Key Developments in the External Relations of the Russian Gas Sector
By Jack Sharples, EGF Associate Researcher on the external dimensions of Russian gas and Lecturer in Energy Politics at the European University of St Petersburg

Key points:

• Special report on Ukraine: A tense month dominated by political relations between Russia and Ukraine, and by commercial relations between Gazprom and Naftogaz, as debts and price negotiations leave Naftogaz in a difficult situation
• EU antimonopoly investigation into Gazprom could be delayed by crisis in EU-Russia relations; Gazprom’s deals in Germany and the UK come under renewed scrutiny in context of current international tensions
• Nord Stream: EU delays resolution of OPAL exemption
• South Stream: Uncertainties remain, despite Gazprom’s optimism and the signing of a contract with Saipem for the laying of South Stream’s offshore section
• Gazprom CEO expects to sign contract with CNPC in May
• Gazprom plans for access to Crimean gas deposits and a doubling of gas production in the region
• A month of milestones, as Gazprom celebrates 50m tonnes of LNG exports from Sakhalin-II and 100 bcm of gas exports via Blue Stream

• April 3, 2014

A surprise decision by President Mahmoud Abbas to sign more than a dozen international conventions that could give Palestinians greater leverage against Israel left the United States struggling on Wednesday to put peace talks back on track.

• April 2, 2014

NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia on Tuesday in protest at its annexation of Crimea, and ordered military planners to draft measures to strengthen its defenses and reassure nervous Eastern European countries.

• April 2, 2014

At the height of the euro zone crisis, a Chinese official quipped that Europe was being reduced to a "wonderful theme park" for tourists. That view no longer has much currency as Beijing recalibrates links with the world's biggest trade bloc.

• April 1, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks on Sunday about ways to defuse the crisis over Ukraine, with Kerry telling Moscow that progress depended on a Russian troop pullback from Ukraine's borders.

• March 31, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke from his travel schedule for the second time in a week to rush back to the Middle East on Monday to try to salvage Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

• March 31, 2014

Days before Crimea voted in a referendum to join Russia from Ukraine, Adam, a Chechen soldier, was ordered to go to the Black Sea peninsula to defend Russia's interests.

• March 30, 2014

Any escalation in the Ukraine crisis poses a threat to Cyprus's economy, the outgoing governor of the country's central bank said in an interview, noting that he expects the bailed-out euro zone member to return to growth in 2015.

• March 30, 2014