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Vladimir Chizhov:
Russia not ready to ratify Energy Charter Treaty
Russia’s EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov tells Interfax why Russia insists on amending the Energy Charter Treaty before ratifying it.
"Our position is well known to our partners, including the European Union. It is that in its current form the Energy Charter Treaty is not ready for ratification," Chizhov told Interfax in a Thursday interview.
He said that a transit protocol to this treaty is not yet ready, and that "some other changes might possibly be required."
Asked about the state of affairs in negotiations between Moscow and Brussels on ending payments for trans-Siberian flights, Chizhov said: "The essence of agreements reached on this earlier was that the system would be modernized by the end of 2013, so the new system will come into effect from January 1, 2014."
He stressed the importance of the fact that there was no agreement to gradually change to the new scheme. "There was no agreement that the changeover to the new scheme would be made gradually or any other way," he said.
Talking about Russia-EU relations, Chizhov said Russia hoped to launch talks with the European Union on a new document to replace the Russia-EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement at the end of 2006 or at the beginning of 2007.
"Only preparations are currently under way because we are waiting for the EU Council to grant the required negotiating mandate to the European Commission," he said. Finland, which is currently serving as EU president, has assured Russia that a decision on the issue will be made before the Russia-EU summit, due to take place in Helsinki in late November, he added.
"As far as we know, internal negotiations on the mandate are in progress. It is passing various levels of the European bureaucratic system. But we hope that it will be issued and that it will be possible to launch negotiations at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year," Chizhov said.
Commenting on a forthcoming EU-Russia informal summit in Lahti, Finland, Chizhov noted that the flare of speculations around the problems plaguing Moscow-Tbilisi relations ahead the EU-Russia informal summit should not be surprising.
"I have seen plenty of Russia-EU summits over the past seven years. I am not surprised by the flare in expectations and speculations ahead of each summit, especially informal ones involving the leaders of 27 countries, among them Bulgaria and Romania [which will join the EU on January 1, 2007]," he said.
The EU foreign ministers made a statement on Georgia-Russia relations in Luxembourg this week. "I have thoroughly studied the document and think that we may have some questions. Certainly, the statement contains provisions that will hardly please Georgia, for instance, the appeal to tone down its militaristic rhetoric," he said.
The UN Security Council resolution on Georgia was clearer, Chizhov said.
The summit delegates may discuss Georgia and other international issues like the Middle East, as well as the Iranian and North Korean nuclear problems, he said.
"It would be strange for the summit to disregard energy issues," but the main topic of the Lahti summit is "a strategic view of future Russia-EU relations, particularly in the light of upcoming negotiations on the Strategic Partnership Treaty and the formation of four common spaces," he said.
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