Translated material
Spiritual and energetic
Vladimir Putin begins his visit to Italy
Vladimir Putin will meet with several heads of state for the first time today. The Russian president's visit to Rome will begin with a meeting with the new Italian President Giorgio Napoletano, after which Mr. Putin will head to the Vatican for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. And just an hour after the start of this meeting, the Russian President was scheduled to have a conversation with an old acquaintance, Romano Prodi. In a sense, this is also a meeting with the new head of the cabinet: as you know, Italy just a couple of weeks ago experienced a short-term government crisis, which, however, was resolved in favor of the current prime minister. Tomorrow Messrs. Putin and Prodi will travel from Rome to the capital of Puglia, Bari, to hold the next Russian-Italian interstate consultations there.The religious aspect of the visit is not limited to the meeting with the head of the Roman Catholic Church. In Bari, Vladimir Putin is expected to visit the Basilica of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, as well as the courtyard of the Russian Orthodox Church. “We chose the city of Bari to host the summit, primarily based on the deep symbolic meaning that this city has for the people of Russia,” Romano Prodi said in an interview with RIA Novosti. — The remains of St. Nicholas rest in Bari. I note that he is holy, revered and by the Italian people. There is also a former Russian church in Bari. By choosing this location for the summit, we wanted to address the spiritual dimension in the relationship between our two countries, which cements our friendship and mutual understanding.”
“From Rome to Florence, from Venice to Bari, there are many Italian cities that can tell a story of travel and encounter, of mutual influence in the artistic and civic spheres, vividly testifying to the value of your culture,” says Mr. Prodi. To ensure that mutual influence is felt not only in history, but also in modern times, on the occasion of the interstate summit in Bari, an exhibition of a collection of Faberge products belonging to the charitable foundation of Russian entrepreneur Viktor Vekselberg will open. Since purchasing this collection, Mr. Vekselberg has shown it in a number of Russian regions, in Kazakhstan, and now its turn has come to Europe.
Romano Prodi, who really knows Russia well and has a good attitude toward it (“When people ask me which novel made the strongest impression on me and had the greatest influence on my life, I answer without hesitation: The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky,” - he says) appears to have become deeply imbued with Russian approaches in other areas as well. For example, in the field of energy policy.
His opinion on Russia's role in European energy coincides word for word with the formulas that Moscow proposed last year as chairman of the G8. “As the main producer of gas and oil in the world, Russia plays an undeniable role in ensuring energy security at the global level. In the case of Europe, this role is enhanced by geographic proximity and the fact that Russia and Europe are connected by a dense network of oil and gas pipelines, says the Italian prime minister. — Energy supply and demand in this case are truly two sides of the same coin, and their purpose is to unite and not to separate. Interdependence is the key to our energy relationship, which promotes a stronger strategic partnership based on respect for mutual interests.”
Nevertheless, of all the documents that are planned to be signed in Bari, only one concerns energy, and only nuclear energy. And although news agencies reported yesterday that the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, and the general director of the energy concern Eni, Paolo Scaroni, would sign a cooperation agreement in Bari, according to Vremya Novostei, there is no such item on the agenda. Moreover, Mr. Miller is not participating in the negotiations at all, and will only join Vladimir Putin on Thursday, when the president heads to Greece.
But this does not mean that Gazprom and Eni have no reason for cooperation. Most likely, it is the Italian concern that can act as the buyer of YUKOS gas assets (the auction for them is scheduled for April 4) and then use them for exchange with Gazprom.