That is why a decision was made to build a longer branch of the pipeline through Gustáv Husák’s Czechoslovakia that remained at the time under the strict control of the Soviet Union.

From the very beginning, the pipeline’s route was subject to political matters as the Soviet Union trusted neither Poland nor East Germany, seeking to prevent these two from gaining control over the gas tap. In 1984, the “Brotherhood” pipeline (Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod) was commissioned as the top energy trunkline running through Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia to the Baumgarten gas hub in Austria.

The 1980s saw an intense development of the gas supply system across Central and Eastern Europe. Referred today as Europe’s largest gas hub, the Central European Gas Hub, or CEGH, is the fulcrum for Russian energy shipments to Europe. In a mere three months, gas supplies arrived in the Baumgarten station in Austria. Never before had Soviet-sourced energy supplies reached Western Europe. These include, among other items, the recourse to European institutions to reduce volumes of gas shipments via Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2, embracing liquefied natural gas technology to diversify energy supplies and the extension of energy connections between the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.įifty years ago, on June 1, 1968, the Soviet company Soyuznefteexport and Österreichische Mineralölverwaltung (OMV) signed an agreement for supplying natural gas from the USSR to Austria in a move that could be branded as symbolic for the construction of the present-day gas infrastructure across the region. They all have adequate tools for implementing such a policy.

It is in the best interest of both Poland and the countries of the region to mitigate any crippling effects of Gazprom’s newest energy projects.

In the best-case scenario for the Kremlin, these projects, once fully implemented, would allow halting gas supplies to Ukraine while leading to acute crises in Central and Eastern Europe, albeit with no harm to Moscow’s Western European partners.

In a bid to remove this dependence, seen as highly disadvantageous for Moscow, Gazprom rushed to implement a couple of its top energy projects: the Nord Stream, Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream pipelines, all of which were intended first and foremost to shut down Russian gas transit through Ukraine.

Moscow’s gas fights with Ukraine yet tarnished Russia’s reputation as an energy supplier.

What serves as a tool for exerting pressure are gas crises that consist in shutting down energy supplies

In its relations with Central and Eastern European countries, Russia is pushing forward its policies of what was referred to as “obedience bonus” and “management by crisis.” The price of natural gas set for the countries that remain reliant on Russian-sourced energy depends on what political course they have embarked towards Moscow.

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