Pipeliners

04.11.2005 12:08 MSK MosNews - The Presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia called on Thursday for broader European Union involvement in the Baltic gas pipeline which they said posed a potentially catastrophic environmental threat to their region, the Reuters news agency reported. The three Baltic leaders, meeting in Estonia, told a news conference that the Russia-to-Germany pipeline would be built upon a seabed which had been littered with tons of dumped chemical weapons, Baltic news service BNS reported. Any mistakes made during construction could release the chemicals with drastic consequences, they said. "The construction of the gas supply pipeline is of vital importance to the countries of the region, however we must draw the attention of the EU and the Scandinavian countries to the potential threats such construction is posing," BNS quoted Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus as saying. Estonian President Arnold Ruutel said an extensive area in the south of the Baltic Sea was polluted with chemical weapons, BNS reported. "An extensive area in the south of the Baltic Sea is polluted with chemical weapons," he said. "Some of them were simply sunk together with the ships after the end of World War II. In this respect, most of the danger lies in the strip of some 1,200 km (750 miles) near the Swedish and the Lithuanian coast where the pipeline is to be constructed." Ruutel stressed that Brussels and the Baltic states must be closely involved in the construction. "The public must be given an opportunity to keep a close watch...there should be scientists involved," he said. "The project must have the participation of the Baltic and EU countries." In September, then German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder rejected criticism by the Polish president of the pipeline deal, worth over 4 billion euros ($4.82 billion), after he and Russian President Vladimir Putin gave their blessing to it. The pipeline, which will ship Siberian gas from Russia to Germany, bypassing Poland and the Baltic states, will be run by a joint venture of Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom, Germany utility E.ON and Wintershall, a unit of German chemical maker BASF. While the project cements Berlin's energy ties to Moscow, the Baltic states and Poland fear it leaves them vulnerable to the whims of the Kremlin, which could cut off their gas supply if it chose to.Lithuania's President Adamkus emphasized on Thursday that it was "important to secure our economic interests in this project."