Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker have reportedly discussed the future of Russia-EU
energy cooperation but did not address the issue of sanctions. The
meeting took place on the margins of the St. Petersburg International
Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 16.
“Energy interaction was discussed,” TASS quoted Russian ambassador to
the EU Vladimir Chizhov as saying on June 16. “As of now, the European
Commission has no joint stance on the Nord Stream project,” he said.
“Various subdivisions of the European Commission still continue debating
whether the so-called Third Energy Package applies to the Nord Stream
or not. We consider one of the European Commission’s stances as
correct,” Chizhov added.
The ambassador said Putin and Juncker “did not discuss sanctions.
Sanctions are not an issue for the Russia-EU dialogue”. “We do not
discuss the problem which was not created by Russia,” Chizhov claimed.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “Sanctions per se
were not brought up”. “They discussed the situation where we have de
facto found ourselves in a frozen relationship,” Sputnik quoted Peskov
as saying.
Commenting on Juncker’s meeting with Putin, Chris Weafer, a senior
partner at Macro-Advisory in Moscow, told New Europe that a return to
the old EU-Russia relationship is impossible.
“What happened the last couple of years has significantly shifted the
relationship. I don’t see – certainly under a Putin presidency, which
at this stage looks likely to last until May 2024 – we will see a return
to what we had before,” Weafer said.
He noted people are preparing for is a return to a new normalcy. “The
general sense is that for sure sanctions will be fully rolled over this
July by Europe. Nobody has any expectations for anything else. But, at
the same time, expectations that sanctions will start to be
significantly eased from the spring of 2017 are very high,” Weafer said.
“On that sense there is an expectation that by next year that we will
be in a new normality, which can allow therefore the development of
business and resumption of trade and better political relationship and
that’s what companies and politicians are now preparing for. They have
in their mind that 2017 is when we could see a shift. Clearly a lot of
things need to happen between now and then not least of which is that
critical point in Minsk 2, which is holding the regional elections in
the eastern regions, which is far from clear,” Weafer said.
Asked if Putin and Juncker discussed the resumption of Russia-EU
summits at their meeting earlier on June 16, TASS quoted Chizhov as
saying that the whole spectrum of Russia-EU relations had been part of
agenda. “The summit is just part of that bloc of problems,” he said.
“Now, we are discussing the need to resume these summits. I am not sure
that they will take place twice a year as it used to be until recently.
But of course it’s going to be a dialogue at a high level,” Chizhov
said.
Reuters quoted Juncker as saying before his meeting with Putin that
he was aware that some people might not approve of his visiting Russia
at a time when EU sanctions on Moscow remain in place, but that he
thought it was the right thing to do. “We can have no illusions about
the problems weighing on our relationship today. They exist. It would be
pointless, even dangerous, to ignore them. We must tackle them
urgently,” Juncker said.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/putin-juncker-discuss-eu-russia-energy-ties-avoid-sanctions/