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EASTWEEK
Weekly analytical newsletter on Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Caucasus and Central Asia (also available in Polish as Tydzień na Wschodzie)

Contents

No. 29(179) | 2009-09-02
Also available in PDF

Analyses

  • The international objectives of Russia's historical campaign

    The intensive historical campaign which has been ongoing in Russia in recent weeks, in connection with the seventieth anniversary of World War II, culminated on 31 August and 1 September with statements by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The main message of these statements was that any attempts at building security in Europe without Russia as a key player were doomed to failure. This suggests that - unlike in the case of the previous propaganda exercises of this kind - one of the aims of the present campaign is to convince the West of the necessity to build a new security order in Europe, and to neutralise the resistance of those European states which are critical of Russia (especially Poland and the Baltic States).

Events

 

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New Russian gas pipeline to South Ossetia
EASTWEEK

2009-09-02

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On 26 August, the anniversary of the recognition of South Ossetia's independence by Russia, the Dzaurikau-Tskhinvali gas pipeline was launched, through which Russian gas will be supplied directly to the breakaway republic. It will end South Ossetia's reliance on gas supplies via Georgia. The Ossetian and Russian authorities have openly admitted that the character of the project was political rather than economic. The new gas pipeline will increase South Ossetia's dependence on Russia.

163 kilometres long, the gas pipeline has been built and financed (at a cost of US$500 million) by Gazprom. The construction started in late 2006; the pace of works accelerated following the Russian-Georgian conflict in August 2008. The pipeline is technologically unique, in that more than half of its route lies at altitudes over 2,000 meters above sea level. The project's main objective was to end South Ossetia's dependence on gas supplies via Georgia (the Agara-Tskhinvali pipeline).

Because of the high costs involved in the construction, the project was not justifiable from an economic point of view. During the opening ceremony, the South Ossetian prime minister Vadim Brovcev stated openly that Gazprom "was involved in political, rather than economic projects in the republic". The price of gas supplied via the pipeline will be US$15 per 1000 m3 (Georgia pays US$225). Gas will only be supplied from Russia to Tskhinvali, because no gas distribution networks exist in the remaining parts of South Ossetia. <WojK>.

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