Valdai Club

Economic sanctions are becoming increasingly prominent on the list of foreign policy tools. However, the role of sanctions in current international relations goes beyond purely technical means of forcing a given state to comply with the will of other countries. Sanctions are becoming an indicator of a changing power balance between states, their sovereignty, and the hierarchy of international relations that they are part of.

The arrival of FSRU Marshal Vasilevskiy in Kaliningrad is an attempt to score several goals with one shot: new supply source guarantees security of supply, brings additional gas volumes to the regional market, fuels the sea vessels and potentially frees pipeline export capacity towards the European Union.

2019 started out with the most important event for Russia’s energy security. Russia’s first floating regasification unit was commissioned at the port of Kaliningrad. The Marshal Vasilevsky ship named after the Soviet military leader, who led the general staff and the Koenigsberg Offensive during the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War, can transport and store liquefied natural gas and regasify LNG to supply consumers with household-grade methane in gaseous state.

On January 8, Gazprom put into operation an offshore gas receiving terminal and the Marshal Vasilevsky Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) in the Kaliningrad Region. The event caused great interest in Russia and Europe, although its true meaning was not always adequately understood.