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Pipeline halt and Transnistria decree reshape regional picture
Summary
A look back at two Russian moves reported in the days up to 27 February 2023, one on oil supplies to Poland and one on Moldova.
What did the region's latest pressure points look like on 27 February 2023? Two developments from the preceding days set the scene, one concerning energy and one concerning diplomacy.
On 25 February, the refiner PKN Orlen announced that Russia had suspended oil exports to Poland via the northern branch of the Druzhba pipeline. The announcement came from the company itself.
Three days earlier, on 22 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin revoked a 2012 foreign policy decree. That decree had underpinned Moldova's sovereignty in resolving the political status of the breakaway Transnistria region. The revocation touched on relations between Moldova and Russia, and between Russia and Transnistria.
Taken together, the two reports showed Moscow acting on two fronts at once: an oil supply route into Poland and a decree tied to Moldova's sovereignty over the Transnistria question. By 27 February 2023, both had been made public, and both were part of the regional backdrop to the war in Ukraine.
