Translated material
Summit without compromise
Russia and the European Union meet on the Chinese border
Negotiations in Khabarovsk, where the next Russia-European Union summit opened yesterday, are taking place in conditions of not just a situational crisis in relations between Moscow and Brussels, as has happened more than once in recent years, but a systemic failure. Almost all commentators unanimously admit that the parties not only have directly opposite views on a number of key issues in the development of cooperation, security and energy. There is a clear lack of understanding of how to get out of an unconstructive state. What can we talk about if the official agenda of the summit does not contain such pressing topics as the preparation of a new agreement on partnership and cooperation or interaction in the gas sector, and the signing of a joint communiqué, according to preliminary data, is not envisaged at all.At the same time, European experts note that the Russian side, with all its appearance, shows guests from the EU the strengthening of another vector of Russian foreign policy - Chinese. The meeting itself is being held in the Far East, on the Russian-Chinese border. The day before, Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting here on cross-border cooperation with China and Mongolia (see page 2) , and the leadership of the European Commission flew to Khabarovsk from Prague, from the EU-China summit.
Meanwhile, in the context of a systemic crisis, Moscow and Brussels need to at least decide on approaches to preventing a repeat of the January events, when the lion's share of Russian gas supplies to Europe was blocked due to the gas war with Ukraine. It is known that the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, brought official proposals in this regard to Khabarovsk. As the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, said in an interview with Interfax, “in the short term, we would like, for example, to agree with Russia on the creation of a more advanced early warning mechanism for possible supply disruptions.”
Brussels has not yet disclosed the content of the proposals, but it is clear that even the most advanced “early warning mechanism” will not work. After the short-lived Russian-Ukrainian war of 2006, the European Commission created a system of “special correspondents” who were supposed to notify officials in advance of impending problems. On New Year's Eve 2009 they were not needed. Russian and Gazprom officials have been vocal since September about the risks associated with transit through Ukraine. And in December, through all possible diplomatic channels, Brussels, national governments and commercial counterparties were notified of the lack of agreements with Naftogaz on gas supplies and possible disruptions in the transportation of Russian fuel to Europe through its system.
The European Commission did not intervene in the situation until recently and did not even accuse Ukraine of violating the Energy Charter Treaty, which prohibits interrupting gas transit in the event of a dispute with the supplier (at the same time, Kyiv officially admitted that it takes fuel for technical needs from the transit flow, despite the absence of a contract ).
The Russian side, in turn, insists on changing the legal framework for international energy cooperation. At the end of April, Dmitry Medvedev proposed to partners from the EU, CIS, G20 and G8 the principles of forming a new system of relations in the energy sector, which, according to the Kremlin, would balance the interests of suppliers, transit countries and consumers of energy resources. The only constructive point in this set of principles was the idea of creating a mechanism for resolving transit disputes that would save suppliers from blackmail from transit countries, and consumers from supply disruptions. So far, however, Moscow has no specific proposals for the implementation of this idea, which means that a substantive conversation on this matter is hardly possible, especially given the fact that the Russian side persistently declares its intention to withdraw from the Energy Charter instead of trying to work on its modernization.
It should be noted that the early warning system about a possible energy crisis on the Russian side has “turned on” again and again concerns Ukraine. At the end of April, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin informed the European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs that the Ukrainian side had difficulties paying for the gas necessary for pumping into underground storage facilities. These volumes (at least 20 billion cubic meters) will be needed to ensure stable transit of Russian gas to Europe during the heating season. Yesterday, another signal came from Kazakhstan, where a meeting of the prime ministers of the CIS countries is taking place. A source in the Russian delegation led by Vladimir Putin told reporters that “if the Ukrainian side ultimately cannot solve the problem of summer gas injection into underground storage facilities, this means that in winter Naftogaz will not be able to fulfill its obligations on the transit of Russian gas to European consumers.” .
A bilateral meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko is scheduled for this evening in the capital of Kazakhstan. The solution to Ukraine's gas and financial problems and reciprocal concessions from Kyiv will be the main topic of the negotiations. As you know, on Wednesday the Russian Ministry of Finance said that it had not made any decision in response to the request of the Ukrainian government to allocate a stabilization loan in the amount of $5 billion.