Putin meets Vanhanen, urges Finland to speed up pipeline process

Information promised on Arctic Sea

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) on Tuesday that Russia would provide information that Finland has not yet received on the environmental impact of the planned undersea gas pipeline.
      At their meeting in the Polish city of Gdansk, Putin also promised that there would be a full exchange of information on the hijacking of the freighter, the Arctic Sea.
     
Vanhanen felt that promises of an environmental impact study of the Nord Stream gas pipeline were the most important yield of the meeting. “It is important to us that we were able to quickly make sure that answers would be forthcoming.”
      Putin himself raised the gas pipeline issue and is pushing for quicker action. This did not come as a surprise to Vanhanen. “There was nothing new from the Russian side.”
     
Vanhanen did not give Putin a specific date when the Finnish permits would be ready. He says that the schedule of the licencing process remains unchanged.
      The government has promised to give a possible recommendation on the use of the Finnish economic zone in September or October, and the Western Finland Environmental Permit Authority will give its decision on an environmental permit in December.
      “I will not speculate on the content of the decision, and the government will not interfere with the environmental permit”, Vanhanen emphasised. The political role and the official licencing process are to be kept separate.
     
In Finland, Vanhanen has pushed for a speedy process. Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) denies suspicions that Vanhanen’s positive comments on the licences would have come as a surprise to the National Coalition Party. He says that the licencing process is moving forward in exactly the correct order.
      “Finland is a country of laws, where matters are handled in the proper order”, Stubb says.
      The Foreign Ministry has felt that it is important to get Russia’s report on the environmental impact of the pipeline before the government grants permission for the use of the Finnish economic zone.
      Russia has previously said that it will take part in the cross-border assessment process, but that so far, no official report from Russia has been forthcoming.
     
Although an official report from Russia is not absolutely necessary from a legal point of view, official sources told Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday that it would be good for the project’s public image - and for good neighbourly relations - that such a report would exist.
      The so-called Espoo process, concerning environmental reports by countries with shoreline along the route of the pipeline, is still open. That is why the Ministry of the Environment did not submit a statement of its own to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.
     
Prime Minister Vanhanen also asked Putin about the hijacking of the freighter Arctic Sea.
      He noted that Finnish officials have submitted a request to Russia for legal assistance. “A full exchange of information was promised”, Vanhanen said.
      Nothing new was revealed about details of the hijacking of the cargo vessel, which was carying timber from Finland to Algeria when it began its mysterious adventure.
      “We discussed what possible motives there may have been for the hijacking. Russia wants to search the ship thoroughly to find that out.”
      The Finns were also interested in the fate of the cargo that was loaded onto the vessel in Pietarsaari.
      “There was a clear promise that the owners would eventually get the cargo back, but the Russians first have to search the ship.”
     
Vanhanen said that the events linked with the hijacking are as much of a mystery for the Russians as they are for the Finns. The ship is still at sea, and the Russians have not been able to investigate it yet.
      “In a way there seems to be an imbalance between the number of hijackers and the ransom that they demanded. They [the Russians] want to find out the real motive”, Vanhanen said.
      “I cannot disclose everything that we discussed about the ship. I will report on it to officials.”
      As a Finnish company was blackmailed, Finnish police have started an investigation.
      Vanhanen also took up the issue of a sewage treatment plan in Kaliningrad. “I hope that it could proceed along the lines of the positive experiences from St. Petersburg. Putin promised to look into the matter.”


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Licencing authority calls schedule for gas pipeline licence process “challenging” (1.9.2009)
  Environment Minister: gas pipeline project now more environmentally friendly than before (31.8.2009)
  Crew of Arctic Sea released after nearly two weeks (31.8.2009)
  Russia giving out little information on Arctic Sea mystery (25.8.2009)
  Arctic Sea: Freed Russian seamen questioned in remand prison (21.8.2009)
  Finland wants more information on risks of gas pipeline (9.6.2009)

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