Translated material
Telephone law
The Norwegian Prime Minister failed to convince Vladimir Putin to intervene in the dispute between Telenor and Alfa Group.
The victory of small but proud Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest, which ended on Sunday in Moscow, sparked meetings between Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his Russian counterpart. Opening yesterday the next round of Russian-Norwegian negotiations at the highest government level, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin began with traditional words about mutual economic cooperation, but caught himself. More precisely, he was told by his guest, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. He said that after the Moscow Eurovision and the triumph of the Norwegian singer Alexander Rybak, “our relations are getting better and better” literally in front of millions of viewers.As a result, Mr. Putin congratulated the young performer, but made it clear to his Norwegian colleague that he had a difficult task ahead - hosting Eurovision. “You’ll have to pump up the gas a little to hold the competition at the proper level,” the Russian prime minister joked in his own style. Mr. Stoltenberg promised not to lose face: “I can’t promise that the event (Eurovision in Oslo . - Ed. ) will be as magnificent as in Moscow. But we will do our best."
After exchanging news from the world of pop music, the delegations moved on to large-format negotiations. They turned out to be quite lengthy and touched on many topics: energy, ecology, the Russian presence in Spitsbergen, border disputes, fisheries. And everything went exclusively under the flag of peace and cooperation. Except for one thing - the long-standing scandal surrounding the Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor, which they are trying to squeeze out of the co-owners of the Russian cellular operator VimpelCom.
Here the Norwegian guest openly asked for support from the Russian government in the dispute between Telenor and Alfa Group over VimpelCom shares. However, Prime Minister Putin spoke out against direct government intervention, which he confirmed at the final press conference. One of the television journalists from Norway asked a rather harsh question in Russian: “Mr. Putin, did the Norwegian government ask for help from you? Don’t you think that what is happening around the Telenor shares in the Russian court is unprecedented? Is stock selection fair? And is there any corruption here?”
While the translation into Norwegian was underway, the Russian prime minister, smiling quietly, anticipated the answer. But he started with the question: “Are you from state television?” “No, from an independent,” responded the journalist. Here Vladimir Putin said with great pleasure that his government is also absolutely independent in the dispute between Telenor and Alfa Group, because it does not have a single share in this business. By the way, in contrast to the Norwegian government, which, according to the Russian Prime Minister, owns a blocking stake in Telenor of 29%. “The Russian government has no interest in this company (VimpelCom - Ed. ), we are not shareholders of this company, so we can be absolutely neutral and independent,” he said. And he reproached the Norwegian journalist for incorrectness, saying that before a court decision there is such a thing as a presumption of innocence: “Therefore, there is no reason to raise the question of the corruption of certain official structures in this situation in a public sense.”
The Russian Prime Minister, of course, promised comfort to foreign investors, but only according to the laws of the Russian Federation. The Norwegian Prime Minister also played a game of diplomacy, saying: “We are unanimous in the opinion that the responsibility for resolving the conflict lies with the companies themselves.” However, he immediately noted: “The forced sale of Telenor shares cannot be allowed.” Until this issue is finally considered in the Russian judicial system.”
That's where we parted ways. True, Mr. Putin, just in case, admonished the entire Russian-Norwegian business: “There is no need to put a spoke in each other’s wheels.”
Actually, in the energy sector, partners manage to implement this principle quite well. The investment decision on the development of the Shtokman gas condensate field, where the Norwegians are our partners, will be signed in March 2010. The head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, commented on the future long-term decision: “This will not interfere with the implementation of the project on time.” Vladimir Putin only announced investments on a scale of billions of dollars, without even giving approximate figures - a crisis.
He also spoke about the current special economic situation in a global sense, emphasizing that bilateral relations should be adapted to crisis conditions, and therefore should only become closer. An example is the far from simplest area of bilateral relations—fishing. Both prime ministers spoke about their intention to cooperate in this area with no less joy than about the Eurovision contest.
Before meeting with Vladimir Putin, Jens Stoltenberg was granted an audience with President Dmitry Medvedev. Mr. Medvedev noted that Russia and Norway are “northern, Arctic countries, and the overall development of the regions depends on how close and coordinated we are on the development of the Arctic.” “I believe that this is also one of the very important areas of cooperation,” said the Russian president. This is understandable: the Arctic is rich in natural resources and, in the face of declining global reserves, is becoming a kind of strategic reserve.
The Russian president believes that, in general, relations between Russia and Norway have developed “very well” recently. “This year does not promise to be completely simple, but our colleagues are working hard; the next session of the intergovernmental commission took place not long ago, and I hope that this will allow us to reach new economic milestones, despite the current economic difficulties,” Mr. Medvedev said.
According to the Russian side, in January-February 2009, trade turnover between Russia and Norway decreased by 36.4% compared to the same period in 2008 and amounted to $237 million. At the same time, Russian exports decreased by 54%, amounting to $96 million. , and imports - by 13%, to $141 million. About 120 enterprises with the participation of Norwegian capital are registered in Russia. Norwegian capital is developing mainly the northwestern regions of Russia, especially the Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, and Leningrad regions. Priority areas of investment are industry, wholesale trade, services, telecommunications and media.