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INTERVIEW OF THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
TO SWEDEN
H.E. MR ALEXANDER M. KADAKIN TO MR PETER WOLODARSKI,
ANCHOR OF THE WEEKLY SUNDAY PROGRAM, TV8 SWEDEN
4 November 2007
Wolodarski: Mr Kadakin,
welcome to TV8.
Kadakin: Thank you.
Question: Why do you think that energy has become
such an important issue in international politics?
Answer: Lately we have been hearing such statements as
if energy were the dividing issue between the European
Union and Russia. I completely disagree with such statements.
I think that it is energy, it is natural gas, it is oil
that are rather uniting than disuniting Europe and Russia,
first of all, because many countries depend on our supplies.
As regards, say, Poland it is 90 p.c. of oil and gas they
consume they get from Russia.
Q: Many people in Europe worry that you use gas or
energy as a tool in order to impose your will on other
countries.
A: These are artificial worries and artificially created
situations because you cannot, Peter, cite a single example
when we would have broken our commitments in supplies
of oil and gas to EU countries. There does not exist a
single example of that.
Q: So why is there so much worry in Europe these days
about this issue?
A: I think that Europe should first of all get rid of
double standards, not having a single fact of our violation
of oil or gas commitments. It should give up double standards,
and it equally applies to the Nordstream pipeline. I have
mentioned, and there are very telling figures, but sometimes
we forget that, for example, Russia and Sweden are very
much interrelated in energy. More than 55 p.c. of oil
consumed by Sweden comes from Russia. This is not mentioned
very often. Official statistics say it is 27 p.c., but
forget that 28 remaining p.c. oil is bought at commodity
exchanges in Holland or Germany. Because of that oil does
not cease to be Russian.
Q: We are also dependent on Russian oil…
A: I would not say that you are dependent but we were
and remain very committed and reliable suppliers of oil
to Sweden. There has been not a single complaint for decades.
Why all that worry?
Q: There have been complaints from Ukraine and from
Belarus…
A: Ukraine and Belarus are not EU members…
Q: They are sovereign countries…
A: Of course they are, but they are not EU countries.
Then, can you imagine your Volvo or Scania companies offering
to your neighboring countries, like Norway, Finland or
Denmark their trucks or buses, or cars at half price?
It is a purely commercial matter. The West was teaching
us in the early nineties how to do things commercially.
We were building our market economy. We have turned out
to be excellent students and now we act only commercially.
Why should we just donate billions of dollars to neighboring
countries however friendly or even fraternal they may
be?
Q: Let’s talk about commercial projects then or maybe
political projects as some would say – the joint Russian-German
gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. Do you think that this
project would be finalized?
A: I have no doubts about that. First, it is a joint Russian-German
consortium. Very often when debate is going on they say
Russians, Russians, Gazprom, Gazprom. Number one, it is
a Russian-German project where Germany has 49 p.c. and
Russia has 51 p.c. I am absolutely sure that it will come
true and will be implemented because not only Germany,
but also Britain, Holland, Denmark in Western Europe are
interested in having Russian natural gas. People forget
that this is a European project, which has been approved
by the European Commission in 2000 and 2001.
Q: Earlier this week there was a statement by the
Swedish Government about this project. Let’s listen to
what the Swedish Minister for Environment said and then
we will come back. So what he is saying here is that he
wants to see consequences for the environment and plans
for alternative routes. Your reaction on this, Mr Ambassador?
A: So far the Russian side or the consortium have not
received any official reaction of the Swedish Government.
Of course the statement of the honourable minister is
worth great attention, and that is exactly what we are
now busy with. In about a month’s time the Nordsrteam
is planning to present and submit to the Baltic governments
their ecological report, which will cover all the ecological
aspects of this project. Of course we are equally concerned
with the ecological system of the Baltic Sea.
Q: …but he wants to see alternative routes.
A: He is not specifying land routes or sea routes.
Q: What do you think about this statement?
A: Land routes are excluded. We are not thinking about
land routes.
Q: Routes closer to the Baltic states?
A: That is a subject for negotiations between the consortium
and the Baltic states. It has not yet been finalized,
as I understand. As regards the land route it is exactly
what we want to avoid. When it is said that land route
is safer than the sea route, that is a complete mistake,
it is an illusion. In land route you have to build pumping
stations every 200 kilometers because of the falling pressure
of gas. So can you imagine how many stations you have
to build, while in sea route we need only one platform,
which will sustain the required pressure in the tube.
According to the statistics these days, there has not
been any catastrophe dealing with the sea routes, like
the one we have in the Black Sea – the Bluestream from
Russia to Turkey. There has been none, but there were
so many explosions on the land routes.
Q: How does this statement affect the Swedish-Russian
relationship?
A: It does not affect it in any way, because as I said
we have not yet heard full official reaction of the Swedish
government. Such statement is a little bit premature.
We cannot discuss ecological aspects of the Nordstream
before that detailed report, which I just mentioned is
submitted to the Swedish and other Baltic governments.
It has not yet been submitted. So far we do not have any
subject matter to discuss this or that ecological aspect.
When they mention the bombs of the past wars, the Nordstream
will bypass those areas.
Q: If we discuss the relationship between Sweden and
Russia in a bit more detail now? There were news reports
some weeks ago of the Russian delegation to the Council
of Europe saying that Sweden and Finland are not considered
to be impartial countries when it comes to Russia, and
when it comes to monitoring the upcoming Russian parliamentary
elections. What is your view on this issue?
A: I would not attribute so much importance to a statement
by an individual Russian member of parliament. We have
invited representatives as observers from the OSCE, form
Strasbourg, the Council of Europe.
Q: Down from 400 representatives four years ago to
70 this year. It was reported widely in the press.
A: No, it is incorrect. We have invited from 300 to 400
observers for our parliamentary elections on December
2.
Q: From the OSCE countries it is down from 400 to
70.
A: Not in a single document it is specified what the number
of observers should be. It is not mentioned anywhere.
Q: Why is it important for you to have fewer observers?
A: Can you tell me how many observers did Sweden have
at the parliamentary elections last year? Sweden did not
have any, Britain does not have any, and Americans do
not have any.
Q: Sweden has been democracy for one hundred years…
A: We have a very well developed and advanced democracy.
And why at all should we invite observers, when the USA,
Britain, Sweden and other countries do not invite them?
Q: You think it is unnecessary?
A: It was just our gesture of politeness that we have
invited them and we are inviting them. I will tell you
my own opinion. We are very much tired of their opinions,
when the voting process is not yet over, they already
start shouting at every corner of the city that it was
not good, it was not fair, etc. Is it correct? Can they
base their opinions on exit polls?
Q: Why is there so much criticism of Russia?
A: Because everybody should get rid of double or triple
standards when Russia is concerned. We need positive energy
in our dealings with Europe and the outside world. Unfortunately
we do not get that positive energy in full measure.
Q: Mr Ambassador, we have to leave at that now. Thank
you very much indeed for joining us and welcome back to
the programme.
A: Thank you.
VIDEO:
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