Germany trusts Russia as energy supplier - minister :: Charter'97 :: News

Germany trust Russia as supplier of energy resources, Minister for Economics and Technology Michael Glos said in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper.

“We trust Russia as supplier of energy resources, but our relations in the sphere of energy deliveries must not develop in the future in a unilateral manner,” the minister said.

Having emphasized that “up till the present moment, Russia has been reliable supplier,” Gloss noted, however that interruptions in supplies of gas and oil from Russia via Ukraine and Belarus at the beginning of 2006 and 2007 “give grounds for concerns”.

According to the minister, plans of Russia’s Gazprom gas giant to get to the German domestic market of energy suppliers “are not negative in themselves”.

Gazprom is already its participant, in particular in Vingaz (Russian-German joint venture importing gas in Germany). However, this participation must be based on reciprocity, the German minister said. “If German companies are to take part in the development of gas fields in Russia, it would be natural to let Gazprom participate in the sales of products in Germany,” Glos noted.