EU Urged to Review Russia-Germany Gas Pipeline

The presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have called on the European Union to seriously consider their countries' environmental concerns over a planned gas pipeline that would run through the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany.

Estonian President Arnold Ruutel, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga met in the Estonian city of Maardu to discuss regional issues, including the planned gas pipeline. They said they were concerned the pipeline would wreak further damage on an already polluted Baltic Sea and called on the E.U. to consult their governments more closely on the matter in the future, said Vike-Freiberga's spokeswoman, Aiva Rozenberga.

The many unexploded munitions left over from World War II and chemicals dumped for decades in the sea by the Soviet Union made building an underwater pipeline risky, Adamkus and Ruutel were quoted as saying by the Baltic News Service.

The 1,200km pipeline, intended to boost Russia's gas sales to Europe and secure uninterrupted energy supplies for Germany, is to be commissioned in 2010, and will eventually carry 55 billion cubic meters of gas each year. It will span from Vyborg, in northeast Russia, to Greifswald, in northern Germany, bypassing current routes through Poland, Belarus and Ukraine.

The deal has provoked opposition in the Baltics and neighbouring Poland because of its impact on the Baltic Sea and on local energy markets.

The construction of the pipeline should be undertaken under the watchful eyes of all the countries bordering the Baltic Sea, Ruutel said.

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Posted 10/11/05

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