Pipeliners

05.08.2005 11:12 MSK MosNews - Polish politicians suspect Moscow and Berlin of entering an anti-Polish conspiracy, Financial Times Deutschland reported on Thursday, Aug 4. The Polish authorities are concerned about construction of the so-called Baltic gas pipeline that will take the Russian natural gas straight to Germany, bypassing all other countries. The pipeline's construction will be started by the Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom in September. It is projected to be put in operation in five years. At present time Poland serves as an important transit corridor for Russian gas, just like Ukraine and Belarus. The plans to build a pipeline that will bypass its territory are considered by the Polish politicians as an insult. Just like other new members of the European Union Poland depends on Russian gas for 70 percent of its energy needs. Despite this fact it has been able to exert some pressure on Russia because of the pipeline that goes through its territory and takes the gas further, to Western Europe. But once the Baltic gas pipeline is built Moscow won't have to fear transit problems and Gazprom will be able to turn off its supplies of gas to Poland should any kind of crisis situation arise. Polish politicians have already called the Russian-German pipeline idea a nightmare. "Baltic Sea pipeline unambiguously violates the common interests of the European Union and its member states," a Polish opposition leader Jan Rokita said. Rokita, who may be Poland's new prime minister after upcoming parliamentary elections, demands that the issue of the Baltic pipeline is put on the agenda of negotiations between Russia and the European Union. Poland's current Prime Minister Marek Belka said that he will "push for alternative projects" in Brussels. Warsaw, along with Baltic states, has suggested an Amber pipeline that will go through the territories of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Polish experts say that such a pipeline would be much cheaper than the Baltic one. Poland and the Baltic states may be in for a big disappointment though. "The chances of a pipeline that would be alternative to the Baltic one are negligible," Kai-Olaf Lang, a polar expert from the Berlin fund of science and politics told the newspaper. On the one hand the companies that plan to build the pipeline, such as Russia's Gazprom and Germany's giants Wintershall and E.ON Ruhrgas, have already signed declaration of intent. On the other hand Russia has no interest in other routes because it wants to become independent from transit states, especially if they are quite unfriendly like Poland. Meanwhile Polish politicians have already called Russia's energy policies a "new economic imperialism".