The EU again blackmails Russia on South Stream

New tensions over the construction of South Stream have appeared between Russia and the EU authorities. Under the pretext of the aggravation of the situation in the Ukraine, as well as after the end of the winter heating season, the European authorities decided to put a spoke in wheel of this project again.

The decision to construct the Nord Stream and South Stream pipelines was made against the background of ongoing conflicts with the Ukrainian authorities related to issues of gas debt payment, as well as numerous cases of illegal taking of gas from the Ukrainian side.

As a result, instead of further use of the Ukrainian gas transportation system it was decided to construct gas pipelines bypassing the Ukraine. Despite the opposition of the Baltic states and Poland, the issues of the Nord Stream construction were settled, and two branches  of this gas pipeline have been launched already. The situation with South Stream was initially more difficult.