Word: russia
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...little-noted speech in London on July 11, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana - a key figure in the "Quartet" of the U.S., E.U., U.N. and Russia that is overseeing the peace process - said that if the parties were unable to bring the conflict to an end in the very near future, the international community would have to impose a solution. "The mediator has to set the timetable too," Solana said. "If the parties are not able to stick to it, then a solution backed by the international community should be put on the table...
...attempting to wean itself off its addiction to Russian gas with a new pipeline. On Monday, five European governments signed an agreement in Ankara to build the Nabucco gas pipeline, which will bring Middle Eastern and Central Asian gas to Western Europe via Turkey and the Balkans - completely bypassing Russia. (See pictures of the changing face of Europe...
...That's still only about 10% of the E.U.'s gas demand. By contrast, Russia exports 140 billion cu m of gas to the E.U. every year. But Nabucco could break Russia's stranglehold over countries that are most dependent on its gas and most vulnerable during winter cutoffs, such as Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. That dependence has also long undermined the E.U.'s efforts to create a common market for European energy, with transparent pricing and a single negotiating stance with suppliers like Russia...
...Russia insists it is a reliable partner and blames Ukraine, which transits 80% of its gas exports, for the recent winter spats. Moscow's solution is to bypass Ukraine and supply Western Europe directly through the Nord Stream pipeline (to Germany, via the Baltic Sea) and the South Stream (to Bulgaria, via the Black Sea). But that would do nothing to ease the E.U.'s reliance on Russian gas, and most E.U. leaders don't see it as a viable option. Last month Barroso warned that "the E.U. must not sleepwalk into another gas crisis...
...Nabucco still faces some massive hurdles before it can be considered a rival to Russia's supply. For a start, there is uncertainty about which countries will actually join the pipeline. Azerbaijan is the only country currently able to supply the 15 billion cu m a year the line needs to kick off its first phase. "We don't even have a map showing us which countries will be the sources and which will be the transits," says Ana Jelenkovic, an analyst at research consultancy Eurasia Group. (Read: "Russia-Europe Gas Spat Ends...