Den estiske ambassadøren angripes av pøbel på åpen gate i Moskva. Russiske myndigheter omdirigerer en firedel av råvareeksporten gjennom Estland. Russerne viser at det er makta som rår.

Estland er medlem av EU og EU-kommisjonen sender en delegasjon til Moskva for å snakke alvor om diplomaters sikkerhet. Samtidig kommer meldingen om at en firedel av all eksport av petroleumsprodukter og kull ikke lenger skal gå via estiske havner, men omdirigeres til Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Ukraina og Odessa. Det blir dyrt for eksportørene, men Moskva ønsker åpenbart å vise muskler.

Russian oil firms rushed on Wednesday to re-route a quarter of their refined products exports away from ports in Estonia after Russia’s railways halted the route amid a political dispute with Tallinn.

Oil traders said the state railway monopoly was not accepting volumes slated for May shipment and they were looking now at Russian Baltic Sea ports and Ukraine’s Black Sea outlets as alternative destinations.

Russian coal exporters also said May exports of Russian steam coal via Estonia had been effectively halted due to a shortage of rail wagons after the rail monopoly RzHD told them they must use their own rail wagons, not RzHD’s, but it had not been possible with such short notice to find alternative wagons.

Up to 900,000 tonnes of May exports could be lost as a result, they said.
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Russia ships a quarter of its refined product exports — or around 25 million tonnes of fuel oil, gas oil and gasoline — via Estonia’s Baltic Sea ports of Tallinn and Muuga for re-export to world markets.

«I see no practical sense behind this decision because the oil transit business belongs to the Russians anyway,» said a source at one of Estonia’s transit terminals.
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He said exports of refined products by rail from central Russia cost under $50 per tonne to Estonia, some $54 to Murmansk and over $70 to Odessa.

Dermed har russerne igjen vist at de er villig til å bruke energi som pressmiddel. For hver gang det skjer blir det vanskeligere å svelge i Brussel.

Russia halts oil products to Estonia amid dispute