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What Surkov's dismissal meant for Kremlin Ukraine policy
Summary
A look back at the removal of the Kremlin adviser who handled the Donbass file, set beside a pipeline dispute with Belarus.
Who was steering Russia's Ukraine policy on 18 February 2020, and why did that change? On that date, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order dismissing senior adviser Vladislav Surkov. Surkov had been in charge of the Kremlin's policy on the Ukrainian crisis and of its relations with the separatist "people's republics" in the Donbass.
The dismissal removed the official who managed that portfolio. Kyiv and other capitals watching the Donbass conflict therefore faced a change in the Kremlin official responsible for dealings with the separatist-held areas.
A second pressure point
Russia was also dealing with a dispute on its western flank. On 14 February 2020, Belarus threatened to take oil from the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian oil to central Europe across Belarusian territory, if Russia did not supply the crude it required. Russian oil supplies to Belarus had not been agreed for 2020, and shipments had dwindled to 500,000 tonnes, down from a planned 2 million tonnes.
Together, the two developments showed Moscow handling changes in its Ukraine policy team while a neighbour pressed it over energy deliveries.
