Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Russian Minister Dismisses Cheney’s Accusations of “Energy Blackmail”

 Russian Minister Dismisses Cheney’s Accusations of “Energy Blackmail”
Created: 08.05.2006 12:11 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:28 MSK
MosNews
 The Russian government has hit back at accusations by US vice-president
Dick Cheney of using its energy resources as “tools of intimidation and
blackmail”. It called on the west to recognize Russia’s progress towards
market principles and democracy.
Writing in Monday’s Financial Times, Viktor Khristenko, the Russian energy
minister, says Russia is “deeply puzzled by recent commentary in the west
that distorts Russian energy policies”. He calls on international leaders
to work together at the G8 summit Russia will host this summer to
establish a plan to achieve global energy security.
“The truth of the matter is that Russia has moved away from Soviet-era
arrangements of subsidizing energy prices to our neighbors and turned to
market-based pricing mechanisms,” Mr Khristenko says. “We are aware that
old impressions fade slowly, but it is time for the west to recognize and
acknowledge the maturing role and state of progress that Russia has
achieved.”
Also this weekend, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, issued a
direct rebuttal of Mr Cheney’s speech in Lithuania last week — even
suggesting he had been misinformed by advisers. President Vladimir Putin,
meanwhile, is expected to deliver a toughly worded state of the nation
address on Wednesday in which he will lay out his vision of Russia’s place
in the world.
We are aware that old impressions fade slowly but it is time for the west
to recognize and acknowledge the maturing role and state of progress that
Russia has achieved, writes Khristenko.
The responses reflect frustration at what Moscow sees as misinterpretation
by the west of recent energy moves, including the decision by Gazprom, the
Russian natural gas giant, to cut off gas to Ukraine in a pricing dispute
in January.
Mr Cheney last Thursday accused Russia not just of using energy policy for
political ends, but of restricting citizens’ rights.
Russia has also faced calls from Jos? Manuel Barroso, European Commission
president, and Andris Piebalgs, EU energy commissioner, to open Gazprom’s
pipeline monopoly to independent producers, and warnings that the EU wants
to diversify its energy suppliers.
Separately, Radek Sikorski, the Polish defense minister, last week
compared Russia’s deal to build a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea to
Germany, bypassing Poland and the Baltic states, to the Molotov-Ribbentrop
pact that divided eastern Europe between the Nazis and Soviets.
Reaching for different historical analogies, some Russian newspapers
described Mr Cheney’s speech as marking the start of a new cold war. Mr
Khristenko makes no direct reference to Mr Cheney, but warns of a need to
avoid falling back into the rhetoric of the past. He notes he was
“received with open arms” on a US trip last autumn.
“Let us hope that, this July, when the leaders of our fellow G8 countries
come together in St Petersburg, they will do so in the same spirit of
serious dialogue and practical collaboration and not let our worthy goals
be derailed by cold war-era ghosts of the past,” he writes.
Mr Lavrov’s comments were more direct. “I think that a person who holds
such a high government post should have the full amount of objective
information,” he said of Mr Cheney. 
White House officials said Mr Cheney’s comments were vetted at the highest
level of the administration.
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 be derailed by cold war-era ghosts of the past,” he writes.
Eh. Aridatece er gas. Piuttosto che fare i furbi minacciando di darlo 
alla Cina.
LOL!
Am.

amalric ha scritto:
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il gas lo danno a chi lo vuole comprare ai prezzi di mercato. O i
petrolieri inglesi di cui fai il leccapiedi lo regalano?
