Putin’s goal on energy ‘may be more tension’

Heightened tension may be the goal of President Putin’s energy policy, a former top Kremlin economic adviser said yesterday as he gave warning that the Russian Government may be seeking to derail July’s G8 summit in St Petersburg even before the leaders gather in the historic city.

Andrei Illarionov, in an interview with The Times, called the forthcoming privatisation of Rosneft, the state oil company, “a criminal act” and suggested that a new form of gas cartel was already being developed by Russia and Algeria.

The escalating confrontation between Russia and the West over energy was part of a deliberate policy of raising tension, Mr Illarionov suggested.

A successful G8 summit requires friendly relations, rather than harsh words and threats, he said. “That is why it looks like the goal is quite different from having a successful G8 summit in the traditional sense of co-operation within the club. The aim could be a summit at which G7 leaders would bow to new energy tsars. Or not to have a summit at all.”

Times Online