This effort of Washington to exert pressure on Sweden to prevent implementation of the Russian-German-Dutch project in the Baltic Sea and thus preserve its influence in the continent is not extemporary. On the one side, today the future of the gas pipeline will depend to a great extent on a decision of Stockholm. On the other side, Sweden is one of few Baltic states, which does not need Russian energy at all, and therefore may actually ruin the Nord Stream project painlessly for its economy. In one word, the United States issued a new challenge not only to Russia but also to Germany.
According to the German newspaper Das Handelsblatt the action of Michael Wood exhausted patience of the German leadership. “On September 12, the US Ambassador in Berlin was handed an official protest, in which he was insistently recommended to explain the White House that the Federal Government of Germany was highly annoyed with the US attempt to press on Sweden”, said a source in the German government.
On September 13, Bundestag spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm commented on the steps of the German Foreign Ministry at a special press-conference as follows: “Germany supports the Nord Stream project because it is important for us in terms of energy supply”. Let us recall that today Germany imports from Russia about 40 per cent of the consumed gas. And if anybody in Poland decides to block the gas pipeline from Russia what will happen to the Russian gas consumers in Germany? I tell you, everything will stop. When the gas is supplied directly from Russia, this “if” will never happen.
Another detail. The Nord Stream pipeline is a part of the integrated energy network project implemented by the European Union as from September 2006, and not only between Moscow and Berlin as it was said by American Ambassador Michael Woods. In this context the newspaper Das Handelsblatt pointed out that “our most important NATO partner makes an effort to block the project expected to be implemented by the European Union” (note: by the European Union but not only by Germany). Experts express concern over aggravated discords between the Americans and Europeans on the Nord Stream project, and long-felt need to explain to Washington that its interference in the internal affairs of Europe starts threatening its energy security.
The assessment of the Nord Stream project by the American diplomat 100 % coincides with the position of Poland and Baltic states, true supporters of the White House policy in Europe. The extreme eagerness to block the project is expressed by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk who made an attempt to link the gas pipeline project with the Caucasus crisis. In particular he claimed that “against the background of the Caucasus conflict there is no need to increase dependency of Europe on energy supplies from Russia”.
Simultaneously Polish newspapers published articles stating that Poland has real opportunities to affect the Nord Stream project. Representatives of the Polish government allegedly expect that Denmark and Sweden will not grant permission to lay the pipeline across their territorial waters, and in this case there will be only one option: to lay the pipeline across the territory disputed by Denmark and Poland. And it will be the moment when Poland will say its “crash” word on the project.
As expected the position and intents of the Polish government were not appreciated by the German side. German Chancellor Angele Merkel supports the construction of the pipeline. P.Ramsauer, CSU, Bundestag, believes that it is necessary to decrease the energy import dependency but not by abandoning new gas pipeline construction projects.
All calls of D. Tusk to refuse from the Russian energy with no proposed alternatives once again confirm that Polish politicians move in the wake of the American policy and cannot make up their mind that the gas pipeline will bypass their territory. And it is the most important issue but not any mythic dependence on Russia.
If Poland succeeds in blocking implementation of the Russian-German-Dutch Nord Stream project it will take a risk to radically deteriorate its relations not only with Russia but also with Germany and the Netherlands. We should not disregard possible negative reaction of the European Commission, which entered the Nord Stream project a few years ago in the list of EU priority energy projects. Perhaps, Polish politicians do not understand it or they exist in the virtual space of on-going Crusade against Russia. Today it happens under patronage and at instigation of the United States. In so doing, Poland does not comprehend that the stakes in its game are very high, and it may happen that once upon a time Poland will have to bear liability for irresponsible conduct as it happened to Georgia, for example.
Today a purely economic issue is turned into a political one. In this situation Poland inspired by the USA may face political consequences as Russia in turn starts providing its national economic interests. And it is not necessarily that the Poles will like the methods selected by Russia to protect such interests.
At the same time it is noteworthy that sober-minded politicians of the Polish establishment assess the Nord Stream project in a different way. Ex-President Alexander Kvasnevski expressed his confidence that the North European gas pipeline will provide Poland with an opportunity to improve its energy security and reliably receive the natural gas from Russian gas fields. The former leader of the Union of Democratic Left Forces was supported by T. Ivinski who claimed that Poland should enter the talks with Russia and Germany on its involvement in the project.
According to him, the situation when the pipeline is constructed and Poland has no benefit from it is the worst scenario. “The train will leave, and we will stay on the platform”, said the politician.
Unfortunately assessments of the Nord Stream project made by A. Kvasnevski and T. Ivinski are not supported by the Polish society. Moreover a majority of political parties and politicians criticize the statements of A.Kvasnevski. The Polish public was never so unanimous on any issue for years.
Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb also sees political overtones in the assessments of the gas pipeline. In this connection he said that “the gas pipeline should be discussed as a climatic, energy and environmental issue”. And that’s all.
In Lithuania, the theses of the Union of Fatherland – Christian Democrats party to be included into the state foreign strategy stipulate that “it is necessary to strive for revision of the Nord Stream Baltic gas pipeline project as it threatens the environment, and oppose its implementation without due multilateral and independent examination”. The theses also set a task “to prevent Russian plans for militarization of the Nord Stream gas pipeline route … and do not let make the Baltic Sea a zone for deployment of naval ships especially those carrying nuclear weapons”.
The Nord Stream project faces also other difficulties. In 1715, Sweden sunk 20 largest ships of its Navy east of the Island of Rugen, which today belongs to Germany. This subsurface kilometer-long obstacle was a line of defense to protect Sweden against Danish ships. The remains of the ships were discovered in 1990 and presented at one of the archeological forums. Today these remains became an obstacle for construction of a gas pipeline section, which should go up to the surface near the Island of Rugen.
Mr. E. Lange who is in charge of obtaining permits for the construction of the pipeline in the German waters spoke about the situation as follows: “I hope that we will solve this problem next year”. His idea to settle a problem emerged out of the centuries consists in removal of elements between the remains of sunken ships. Experts believe that it is a rather complicated operation and hardly feasible.
In this connection opponents of the gas pipeline have got another pretext to say that the scheduled deadline of the construction in 2011 is illusive. The point is that according to historians there are about 2,500 sunken ships on the seabed on the way of the pipeline.
So, we may make a conclusion that the situation around the Nord Stream project is heating up. Obviously the parties should make maximum efforts to avoid politics in further implementation of the project and contribute more common sense, good will and understanding of all benefits which would be provided due to direct supplies of the Russian gas to West European countries.
Results of the top-level Russian-German intergovernmental consultations in St.-Petersburg and conclusion of an agreement on joint development of the South Russian oil/gas field infuse optimism. Discussing this problem, Dmitry Medvedev and Angele Merkel spoke about their political support of the project and emphasized that the construction of the pipeline is in the interests of not only Russia and Germany but also entire Europe.
