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Plus, Serbian world hits snag, Russians flock to Georgia, Kyrgyz glacier collapse, and more.

The Big Story: A New Round in the High-Stakes Russian Energy Game

What happened: Russian gas imports will not be affected by the next round of European Union sanctions, “because a number of countries depend on Russian gas” and can’t adjust quickly enough, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told Reuters on 13 July. Meanwhile, Hungary declared an “energy emergency” in response to supply disruptions and rising energy prices, and the Baltic states are hurrying to sever their energy links to Russia.

More context: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania want to completely disconnect from the Russian electricity grid sooner than planned over fears Moscow could simply turn off the power, as some fear it might do, Aliide Naylor writes for the CEPA think tank. In Hungary, where top officials oppose sanctions on Russia, the chief of staff to Prime Minister Viktor Orban yesterday said sanctions are partly to blame for Europe’s energy troubles, Euronews reports. The Hungarian state of emergency is meant to boost domestic energy production capacity. Energy exports will be banned, coal mining encouraged, and the country’s only nuclear plant will work longer hours.

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Worth noting: The European Commission moderated restrictions on Russian goods, telling Russia it can ship sanctioned goods through EU territory, but only via rail, after Moscow issued vague threats of retaliation for Lithuania’s move to further restrict many goods from entering Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, Newsweek writes.

Central Europe and the Baltics