European Commission won't succeed in forcing Russia to reconsider South Stream deals, experts believe

The European Commissioner for the Energy Industry, Günther Oettinger, is going to visit Moscow on Friday in order to pursue Russia to reconsider agreements with member-states of the South Stream project.

According to Alexey Belogoriyev, the deputy head of the Energy Strategy Institute, the European Commissioner has no instruments to pressure Russia in this field. If Russia refuses to reconsider the deal, the EU won't be able to force the country to do so.

Investment analyst Valery Nesterov underlines that if the EU states file a lawsuit aganist Russia, it will last for years. This is why the European Commission is likely to suggest a compromise solution itself, he says.