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

Key points:

• The tortuous legal wrangling between Gazprom, the Lithuanian government, and Lithuania’s main gas utility, Lietuvos Dujos, continues; Gazprom set to finalise its bid for Greece’s gas distribution system operator, DEPA; Gazprom could construct Baltic LNG terminal
• Gazprom rejects an invitation to attend a high level ministerial seminar in Brussels on Ukraine’s energy market, which was jointly organised by the European Commission and the Ukrainian energy ministry; Ukraine could cede control over its gas transit pipelines in exchange for guaranteed transit and a gas price discount
• The construction of South Stream in Serbia will begin in late 2013 according to Srbijagas; South Stream Chief Exec, Marcel Kramer, confirms that South Stream is on schedule for financing in early 2014 and construction of the first line in 2015
• Gazprom and CNPC aim to sign a gas supply contract by the end of 2013; Gazprom could lose its export monopoly in the Asia-Pacific region; freight deliveries from Northern Russia to China via the Northern Sea Route demonstrate the possibilities of LNG exports from Northern Russian to the Asia-Pacific region.
• Rosneft steps up the pressure on Gazprom with its buyout of Itera.

• June 5, 2013

President Vladimir Putin dismissed criticism of Russian arms sales to Damascus on Tuesday but said Moscow had not yet delivered the S-300 missiles that Western governments say could prolong Syria's civil war.

• June 4, 2013

A British request to blacklist the armed wing of Hezbollah ran into opposition in the European Union on Tuesday, with several governments expressing concern that such a move would increase instability in the Middle East.

• June 4, 2013

Any expansion of NATO to include Sweden and Finland would upset the balance of power and force Russia to respond, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday, underlining Moscow's nerves over moves to bring the Western alliance closer to its border.

• June 4, 2013

The potential for social unrest in European Union countries is higher than anywhere else in the world and the already yawning gaps between rich and poor, a major trigger, are likely to widen globally, the International Labour Organisation said on Monday.

• June 3, 2013

China warned the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on Monday against making "irresponsible remarks" about nine North Korean defectors the U.N. believes were repatriated to their isolated, authoritarian homeland by China last week.

• June 3, 2013

Russia said on Monday it blocked a U.N. Security Council declaration on the siege of the Syrian town of al-Qusair over the weekend because it amounted to a demand for a unilateral ceasefire by government forces.

• June 3, 2013

Ukraine has signed a memorandum on deepening cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Commission, a regulatory body of the Eurasian Customs Union.

• June 1, 2013