Pipeliners

03.11.2006 - MosNews - On Thursday, Nov. 2, the Russian Foreign Ministry angrily criticized a U.S. diplomat’s warning to the European Union that a prospective gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea could further increase its energy dependence on Russia. The Foreign Ministry was referring to the interview given by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza to the Financial Times newspaper. MosNews has reported on the interview, which was published on Sunday, Oct. 29. In the interview Bryza said: “If you live in Germany you do not want to go through what happened last winter with Ukraine. I wonder as a U.S. official how much diversification anybody can develop by having more pipelines into the same supplier.” Bryza was referring to the new North European Gas Pipeline, which Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom is currently building in cooperation with Germany’s BASF and E.ON. The pipeline will bypass Poland and the Baltic states, going directly from Russia to the Baltic Sea coast of Germany. The Russian Foreign Ministry fired back on Thursday, saying that the EU’s energy security hinged on Russian gas supplies. “Let’s refrain from discussing whether it was a proper thing for a U.S. official to do to take responsibility to tell Germany how it should develop cooperation with Russia,” it said in a statement that was quoted by Association Press. The ministry said that the United States had previously criticized the Blue Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea delivering Russian gas to Turkey. “Unfortunately, one could get an impression that the U.S. opposition to the Blue Stream project and now to the North European gas pipeline is driven not by its concern about Europe’s energy security, but by some U.S. officials’ belief that good gas pipelines are those which bypass Russia,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The statement reflected a growing chill in Russian-U.S. ties, already strained because of differences over Iran and other global crises and U.S. criticism of the Kremlin’s democracy record and strong-arming of ex-Soviet neighbors. MosNews has reported on Thursday that the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who now serves as chairman of the consortium building the Baltic pipeline, defended Russia’s record as an energy supplier and insisted that a planned German-Russian pipeline will not compete with existing supply routes.