by Judy Dempsey
07-04-06
With Chancellor Angela Merkel shifting German foreign policy more markedly
toward the United States and the defence of human rights, Russia's foreign
minister, Sergey Lavrov, warned the West against isolating his country from
helping to broker disputes with Iran and other conflicts in the Middle East.
His warnings come amid growing criticism by the Bush administration and several
EU countries over Russia's crackdown on human rights groups and of the Kremlin's
willingness to use its vast energy resources as political pressure on its
neighbours.
"We often hear from some countries that Russia is becoming strong and
unpredictable. But this is not the case," said Lavrov, a former ambassador to
the UN who was appointed foreign minister in March 2004.
"In the 1990s, when the Commonwealth of Independent states was disintegrating
and there were fears of Russia breaking up too, some people in the West said
they wanted a strong and united Russia. Now we are here. They should be
grateful."
His warnings, made at a lunchtime meeting sponsored by Deutsche Bank in
Berlin, were combined with a charm offensive during a two-day visit to Germany.
He met Merkel and officials of Germany's biggest companies and banks, which have
built on traditionally strong ties to establish a strong presence in Russia.
Germany is still one of Russia's most important Western partners, despite
Merkel's attempts to rebalance her foreign policy by breaking the special axis
that her Social Democratic predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, had forged with Paris
and Moscow at the expense of ties with the United States and the EU.
Russia's image has deteriorated in Germany after Schroeder’s close ties with
President Vladimir Putin came under close scrutiny. The Economics Ministry in
Berlin disclosed that just before Schroeder left office last November, his
government issued a credit guarantee of EUR 1 bn, or $ 1.2 bn, to Gazprom,
Russia's state-owned energy company, to build the North Sea Gas Pipeline with
two German companies.
Schroeder was appointed chairman of the new company overseeing the construction
of the pipeline shortly after leaving office, while the deal itself was clinched
last September, just before Germany's parliamentary elections in which Schroeder
lost to Merkel, a conservative.
Lavrov said he had no idea if Gazprom -- the world's largest gas company --
would still take up the credit guarantee.
"I know nothing about it," he said. He did say, however, that Merkel supported
the pipeline, which will cost over EUR 10 bn to construct.
"We wish to diversify the routes of energy exports," he said, adding that the
project would lead to more energy security.
But he brushed aside any notion that the pipeline would in fact increase
Europe's dependence on Russia for its energy, and that the energy relationship
was a one-way street.
"Energy security requires consideration for the interests of both energy
suppliers and energy consumers," he said. "We depend on Europe for our exports
and wealso need stable and reliable demand."
Some 35 % of Russia's energy is exported, but exports account for 70 % of
Gazprom's revenues because Russia's domestic energy prices are subsized. Over 80
% of Gazprom's exports are sold to Europe.
Flush with a large trade surplus because of record-high energy prices that has
enabled Putin to pay off debt to the Paris Club of Western creditor nations,
Russia has more confidently taken foreign policy initiatives. These include the
recent invitation to leaders of Hamas, the Islamic movement that won the
Palestinian elections, to visit Moscow. Russia also offered to process uranium
for Iran inside Russia in a bid to break the stalemate with the United States
and the European negotiating group of Britain, France and Germany over Iran's
nuclear program.
Lavrov said those initiatives were justified because Russia was not prepared
to accept any "clash of civilizations" between the Western world and the Middle
East. In barely veiled criticism of US policy in the Middle East, Lavrov said
Washington's plans to democratize the region were obsessive.
"We have to take into account the overall energy needs of the world and the
obsessions with democratizing the region overnight," he said. "We can't take
sides in the conflict of civilizations. We want to help to bring both sides
together. We want fair play. Russia's foreign policy is free of ideological
considerations."
Lavrov insisted that Russia was pursuing an "unbiased" approach in the region
that was crucial to global energy security. Even if all the ambitious plans are
implemented to save energy, "the need by the world for energy supplies will not
diminish," which is why a new concept of international relations was needed that
involved Russia and Germany.
"There must be no going back to zero sum games or political games," he said. "We
want to play in a team."
Source: International Herald Tribune