Home › World › Two events on 8 January 2020 linking Ukraine's region
Two events on 8 January 2020 linking Ukraine's region
Summary
A plane crash near Tehran and a gas pipeline inauguration marked the same day in Ukraine's neighbourhood.
What did 8 January 2020 mean for Ukraine and its neighbours? It brought two separate events, one of loss and one of energy politics.
Near Tehran, a plane operated by the airline MAU crashed, killing 176 people. The aircraft belonged to a Ukrainian carrier, which made the disaster a matter of direct concern in Kyiv.
On the same day, the heads of state of Turkey, Russia, Serbia and Bulgaria formally inaugurated the TurkStream gas pipelines. The ceremony involved four countries in the wider region.
No link between the two events was reported at the time. They are connected only by the date and by their place in the region's news: one a tragedy involving a Ukrainian airline, the other a ceremony on gas infrastructure involving Russia and several of Ukraine's neighbours.
