Russia: Punishing the Baltics with a Broken Pipeline

Russia announced June 1 that it will not repair the section of Druzhba oil pipeline running to Lithuania that ruptured nearly a year ago. Russia said it will now exclusively supply Lithuania and its large Mazeikiu Nafta refinery via sea — which will up the cost both for Lithuania and for the refinery owner, Poland's PKN Orlen. The announcement, not coincidentally, comes the day after Lithuania's bold statement that it wants to join in on U.S. plans to build a missile defense shield in Central Europe, much to Russia's ire.