Russia has ambitions
few in the west
are aware of

 
Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder.
Photo: Wikipedia.org.

Text: Aage Myhre
Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@vilnews.com

Professor Vytautas Landsbergis continuously warns his country and the world about the Russian threat. I think these warnings sometimes are a bit excessive, but I’m also afraid that Western Europe will continue acting and thinking with their blinders and ear flaps on. Yeltsin's Russia was perhaps more or less loose tooth, but Putin's Russia is definitely not! And Putin has ambitions. Big ambitions. I have learned this over my years in his front yard. It surprises me constantly to see how little Western leaders worry.

Putin has publicly stated that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the most tragic has happened in Russia's history. It is an attitude not only Eastern Europe should be scared of. Western Europe and the rest of the world will also be greatly influenced if Putin gets what he wants.

Energy is the weapon. This applies not least to gas, which the rest of Europe is highly dependent on. The state-owned Russian gas company Gazprom is Putin's main tool in the efforts to achieve more and more control in Europe. It is often through this company that many spies and agents are paid.

Baltic states are particularly vulnerable. These relatively poor countries are already paying 50% more for gas received from Russia than Germany does. And every time they do something to achieve independence from Russian supplies of gas, oil or electricity, Putin is ready with the finger on the switch. Ready to turn off the power, once again to make a blow to the Baltic States. Unfortunately, he has more than enough power to threaten and trump through most of the restrictions.

I put big question marks at Germany's former chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, for his roles in his native country and for Europe. Schröder cultivated very close ties to Putin, even as Chancellor, ostensibly to strengthen the "strategic partnership" between Berlin and Moscow.

Together they planned the now realized gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, exclusively between Russia and Germany. Only a few days before he resigned as Chancellor Schröder signed the agreement without consulting with his EU counterparts, and immediately after his retirement he joined the board of the German-Russian joint venture.

Schröder was criticized in the media, and later by Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel, when he called Putin
a "flawless democrat 'on 22 November 2004. His so-called objectivity of years as chancellor may well be questioned.

In his memoirs' Entscheidungen: Mein Leben in der Politik ' Schröder defends his friend and ally, Vladimir Putin, saying that' it would be wrong to place excessive demands on Russia in terms of domestic political reform and democratic development, or to condemn Russia solely on basis of the Chechnya conflict '. Well ...

Schroeder has also criticized some European countries' rapid decision to recognize Kosovo as an independent state after the independence declaration in February 2008. He believes the decision was taken under strong pressure from the U.S. government, and has caused several problems, including weakening of the so-called pro-European powers in Serbia. In August 2008, Schroeder blamed the war between South Ossetia and Georgia entirely on Mikhail Saakashvili and 'the West'. 

The former chancellor still refuses to criticize any aspect of Russian politics. His office in Moscow is probably too good to be left. Then rather forget some moral principles.

Gas is crucially important for continental Europe. Even a brief interruption in supplies do often get very serious consequences. People freeze to death. Radiators and kitchen stoves are left cold. Companies are forced to stop their production.

Russia is increasing its grip on oil and gas, Europe's economic lifeblood. Moscow is working out of a comprehensive strategies aiming to increase Europe's political and economic dependence on Russian energy.

Such dependence can negatively affect transatlantic relations, common values, goals, strategic objectives and security policies. Without dialogue and coordination between Washington and European capitals, Europe's strategic plans are driven away from the United States unabated. It is consistent with Putin's plans.

Norway is an important alternative gas supplier to the European market. Therefore, for Putin and Medvedev, it is important to have good relations with Norway, among other things, to show 'courtesy' about sharing the lines in the Barents Sea and potential Norwegian participation in exploration and production of gas and oil on Russian territory.

Hopefully, Norway and Europe will understand the picture in time.


 

A new, disturbing aspect is that Russia now has plans to build two nuclear power plants in the Baltic States, one in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, and another as a joint Russian-Belarusian project in Belarus near the Lithuanian border. Europe needs more energy, but with Chernobyl and Soviet history with nuclear power plants and nuclear waste in mind, one can ask whether two new plants at the very threshold of Northern Europe and Scandinavia is desirable.

I call for clearer information and a more open debate.