Un fulmine a ciel sereno, un terremoto dagli
esiti poco chiari. La mattinata è iniziata con l’annuale discorso sullo stato della Federazione
a Camere unite del presidente Vladimir Putin.
Il capo del Cremlino ha annunciato a
sorpresa l’avvio delle riforme del sistema politico con ben sette emendamenti
costituzionali da far approvare al popolo in un referendum, probabilmente entro
l’estate.
Una manciata di ore dopo, quando
commentatori ed analisti stavano tentando di comprendere quale fosse il vero
gioco di Vladimir Putin, il premier
Dmitrij Medvedev con tutto il suo Esecutivo ha deciso di dimettersi come da
articolo 117 della Costituzione.
Dopo ancora un paio di ore il presidente russo ha
conferito l’incarico di formare il nuovo governo al capo del Fisco federale, lo
sconosciuto Michail Mishustin.
La sensazione generale è che con questa
mossa il presidente russo voglia riformare la politica nazionale in un momento
in cui è ancora popolare, nonostante la crisi economica, ed un anno prima delle
Legislative del 2021.
La gente in genere fino ad oggi ha
incolpato il premier dimissionario per le difficoltà
quotidiane e per l’incapacità del governo di mantenere ordine nelle enormi
regioni. Dmitrij Medvedev non ha saputo
spendere bene i soldi messi a disposizione, puntano il dito alcuni noti
editorialisti, che utilizzano l’aggettivo “inadeguato”.
Ad onor del vero, l’ex primo ministro
sembra attualmente il capro espiatorio
della presente stagnazione e di tutto quel che non va in Russia. Sintomatico è
il messaggio mediatico che circola sui canali federali, in cui si rammenta che Medvedev è stato presidente dal 2008 al 2012 e capo
del governo dal 2012 al 2020. In totale ben 12 anni al potere.
gda
The presidents of Turkey and Russia formally launched the TurkStream pipeline which will carry Russian natural gas to southern Europe through Turkey, part of Moscow’s efforts to reduce shipments via Ukraine.
The pipeline project, stretching 930 kilometers (580 miles) across the Black Sea, reinforces strong energy ties between Moscow and Ankara
TurkStream directly connects the large gas reserves in Russia to the Turkish gas transportation network, to provide reliable energy supplies for Turkey, south and southeast Europe.
The offshore component of the system consists of two parallel pipelines running through
the Black Sea. The pipelines
enter the water near Anapa, on the Russian coast, and come ashore
on the Turkish coast in the Thrace
region, near the town of Kiyikoy
(20 Kms from the Bulgarian border).
Russian gas producer Gazprom will ship about 3 billion cubic
meters (bcm) of gas per year to Bulgaria via TurkStream, replacing a route that formerly passed through Ukraine
and Romania.
Gazprom shipped about 3 bcm to Greece and about 500,000 mcm to North Macedonia via that route in 2019.
Russia is building TurkStream in two pipelines, each with an annual capacity of 15.75 bcm. The first pipeline will supply Turkey and the second will extend from Bulgaria to Serbia and Hungary. Bulgaria hopes to be able to make shipments to Serbia by May 2020 and build the whole section by year-end.
Russia and Ukraine have signed a five-year, $7
billion deal on the transit of Russian natural gas to west. About 40 percent of the 200 billion cubic meters (bcm)
of gas that Russia has sent
to Europe annually has been transmitted via Ukraine’s vast network of
pipelines.
Under the new contract, Kyiv next year
is expecting to ship a minimum of 65 bcm,
or about 22 bcm less than it did in 2018.
Minimum volumes will decrease
further to 40 bcm in 2021-24.
The new deal has a “pump or pay” clause, meaning Russia must pay the minimum gas-transit fee even
if it doesn’t pump the contracted volumes through Ukraine.
The new deal stipulates that
“both sides reserve the right to
extend the contract for another 10 years” after its expiration.
Also part of the new contract is Russia
agreeing to pay $2.9 billion to Ukraine
as part of a Stockholm arbitration court ruling, which Moscow did on December 27.
In turn, Naftogaz has promised to
release seized assets belonging to Gazprom
in Europe and both parties have agreed to drop
reciprocal court claims that haven’t concluded and sign an out-of-court
settlement.
Source: rfe/rl.
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