Energy returns Russia to world stage
Energy returns Russia to world stage
Also In The News
|
Three US soldiers were killed this morning when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb north-west of the capital, raising the number of Americans killed in the Baghdad area to eight this weekend. |  |
Monday, 24, Apr 2006 10:36
Russia is hoping that its status as a key provider of energy to the West will help claw back some of the political power it has lost since the collapse of the Soviet Union, analysts have said.
After years of economic decline, surging demand from Europe and emerging economies like China and India mean that Russia is once again a major force on the world stage.
While President Putin and his officials have assured the international community that Russia can be a reliable partner in the bid to secure energy supplies, there have been concerns about what the former super power might want in return.
"There is no doubt that the current Russian government sees energy as a force leveller," David Clark, chairman of the Russia Foundation, told BBC Radio Four yesterday. "It sees energy as the way it can do something to restore its great power status on an international stage."
Mr Clark's comments follow similar remarks by energy analyst David Montagu-Smith, who told Channel Four News last week: "They (Russia) are looking to use the security of gas supply as a major tool in getting to the top table and staying there."
Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas company, which David Clark described as "an arm of Russian domestic and foreign policy", is currently on the lookout for takeover targets and has been linked with a bid for British Gas owner, Centrica.
According to David Montagu-Smith, European governments should resist the urge to block Gazprom's expansion plans.
There is concern that if Gazprom's merger aspirations are thwarted it could sour the wider relationship between Russia and the EU.