Russia abandons South Stream too suddenly

Russia's decision to abandon the South Stream gas pipeline to Europe was so unexpected for the EU that the European Commission didn’t even express public joy. Countries - the participants of the project were equally discouraged, but started to actively worry about the potential losses and future problems with gas supplies. Now Russia will face a long process of cancellation agreements on South Stream and the settlement of possible financial claims.

The sudden death of South Stream after eight years of negotiations and expensive preparatory work came as a surprise not only for European politicians, but also for its foreign participants. Yesterday, the reaction in the EU to the Vladimir Putin’s statement, made on Monday, ranged from carefully exhibited indifference through frank disbelief to indignation. The EC representative Anna Kaisa Itkonen said that "Russia’s report has been taken into consideration". The EC didn’t even cancel regular meeting with representatives of the countries - participants of the project, scheduled for December 9th. The Deputy Head of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic said yesterday that the meeting would take place and "the message will be one of the topics".