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Estonia and Europe's gas anxiety, June 2022
Summary
A look back at two pressure points on Russia's western flank: an airspace violation reported by Estonia and a sharp rise in European gas prices.
What did Europe's tensions with Russia look like on 22 June 2022? Two reports from the days around that date offer a snapshot, one on security and one on energy.
On 21 June 2022, Estonia reported that a Russian Border Service Mi-8 helicopter had violated its airspace over the preceding weekend. Tallinn responded by summoning the Russian ambassador to Estonia.
The energy picture had shifted a few days earlier. On 16 June 2022, European benchmark natural gas prices rose by around 30%. The jump followed a decision by Gazprom to cut Nord Stream 1 deliveries to Germany to 40% of the pipeline's capacity.
Russia blamed maintenance problems. It said Canada had refused to return equipment sent there for repair, and it warned that use of the pipeline could be suspended completely.
Taken together, the two reports show pressure on European governments from different directions in the same week: a diplomatic protest over an incursion into Estonian airspace, and a price surge tied to reduced gas flows through Nord Stream 1.
