Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) before the beginning of a meeting with parliamentary representatives from Russia, the USA, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan in Sochi on September 17, 2006.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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President Threatens Parliamentary Delegates with Energy Security
Yesterday in Sochi Russian President Vladimir Putin met with delegates from the representative houses of the G8 countries. The parliamentary leaders from England and Canada were absent, but their counterparts from Russia, the USA, Germany, Japan, Italy, and France were in attendance. Russia's representative was Russian State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov, and the main issue on the table was how to ensure global energy security.
Experts say that more than 2.4 billion people in the world do not have access to fuel, while more than 1.6 billion have no electricity. Speaking of the issue of energy security, President Putin employed some interesting logic: he seemed to think that the struggle for energy security meant giving the G8 delegates a better understanding of the many pipeline networks through which Russian oil and gas flow. He also covertly reminded them whose energy security the consumers of energy resources should be chiefly concerned about: that of the supplier, of course.
"As you know," announced Mr. Putin, "we have begun work on the construction of the North European gas pipeline. Work on the laying of an oil pipeline from Siberia to the Pacific Ocean is going ahead full-throttle. Not long ago, during my visit to Athens, we concluded an agreement with the leaders of Bulgaria and Greece to realize yet another project…the Transbalkan oil pipeline from Burgas to Alexandropolis."
"We think," continued the supplier of energy resources, "we plan, calculate, that from the current 3% of Russian oil exports that go to the countries in the Asian-Pacific Ocean region, in ten years we will export to that region no less than 30% of our total exports. We are planning, and work is going on in that direction, to construct two large transport projects for the delivery of natural gas to the People's Republic of China."
Unsure of how to respond, the delegates just smiled nervously.
Mr. Putin also found time to play the peacemaker among the world's religions in comments on the scandal of the recent speech by the pope, which contained some ill-considered references to the Prophet Muhammad.
"I am sure," he said, "that the religious leaders of the world's founding faiths will have sufficient strength and wisdom to avoid any kind of extremism in the relationships between the faiths."
Mr. Gryzlov and Mr. Putin then turned over the floor to the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, whose remarks focused mainly on the situation with Iran. Mr. Hastert called Iran an exporter of terrorism whose influence, especially in terms of financial support, is obvious in the workings of Hezbollah and Hamas. He also conveyed greetings to Mr. Putin from US President George Bush.
"The President of the United States asked me to thank you for your cooperation in the question of Iran," he said, framing his remark in a way that managed to make it sound as though President Putin were a mere collaborator of Bush's. "All that is necessary now is to make sure that our patience is not misinterpreted as weakness. I am glad that together we are trying to put this problem to rest."
The meeting ended on a lighter note as the delegates broke for lunch. Speaker Hastert, who is not a small man, got stuck in the door of a minibus and had to be pushed the rest of the way in by Mr. Putin. An unparliamentary method, to be sure, but a successful one.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 18, 2006
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