Alexei Grivach
Sen. Richard Lugar believes NATO, the U.S., and the EU are yielding to Russia in energy confrontation
Last week one of the main Washington "hawks", Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Richard G. Lugar, summarised the main points of the energy confrontation between Russia and the West. His conclusions appear exceptionally flattering to Moscow, namely to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Speaking at Washington's National Defence University, Sen. Lugar stated that NATO, the U.S. and the EU failed to take on Russia's energy strategy in Europe. The Senator noted "Russia's unchecked movement toward becoming an energy supply monopoly" over Europe, calling this factor "one of the most damaging foreign policy developments of the post-Cold War era."
One of the major ideologues in support of creating a NATO-based energy security system in Europe, Sen. Lugar considers that it is high time to outline a common trans-Atlantic policy on hydrocarbon supplies. He introduced this concept for the first time at the NATO summit in Latvia two years ago, stressing that "a natural gas shutdown in a European country in the middle of winter could cause death and economic loss on the scale of a military attack."
This time, he lashed out at Europeans for indecision and several countries (mainly Germany and Italy) for pinning their hopes on bilateral agreements with Moscow. In the Senator's opinion, Russia is unwilling to play by market rules. "It is difficult to distinguish where the Russian Government ends and where Gazprom begins," Sen. Lugar stated. "Gazprom has clearly sacrificed profits and needed domestic infrastructure investments in order to achieve Russian foreign policy goals."
In the Senator's opinion, ensuring oil and gas supplies from Central Asia, where Mr Putin has so far outplayed Brussels and Washington, must be the cornerstone of the new energy security system. Therefore, according to Sen. Lugar, the new US President should pay a visit to the region without delay, in order to solidify the West's position in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. "Leaders in both governments told me they wanted more dialogue with the West when I visited them earlier this year," Sen. Lugar said. "Nevertheless, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan recently finalised large-scale agreements with Moscow to sell gas and oil to Russia for delivery to European markets. In part, these deals were reactions to the failure of the West to provide alternatives and to engage leadership in the region."
According to Richard Lugar, "the willingness of these governments to discuss trans-Caspian alternatives will not turn into investments on the ground without concerted, high-level engagement." The Senator recommended acting in Mr Putin's manner. "Prime Minister Putin visits the region several times a year, and his personal diplomacy has been critical to Russia's success. NATO and EU leaders have not devoted the time, energy, and political capital required to solidify Western relationships in the region," the politician stated, urging the US President's prompt visit to Central Asia. "It is time for a US President to visit Central Asia and make these critical geostrategic arguments in person. I would applaud a visit by President Bush in his last months in office, but his successor must certainly make a visit to Central Asia a high priority early in his presidency," Sen. Lugar emphasised.