Russia gives Germany a role as strategic partner

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http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/12/news/germany.php

BERLIN As both sides of the Atlantic compete for reliable energy sources, Russia appears to be playing off Europe against the United States by favoring Germany as its most important strategic partner and the main transit country for Russian gas to lucrative markets in Western Europe.

The goal of linking Europe's largest economy much more closely to Russia emerged clearly this week: Moscow shut American firms out of development of a major gas field and reneged on previous plans to send liquefied natural gas from that field to the United States, and President Vladimir Putin spelled out priorities to Russian and German political and business leaders in Dresden.

Returning to the city where he was a KGB agent from 1985 to 1990, Putin dwelled on the new North European Gas Pipeline that Russia and Germany are building under the Baltic Sea. Once in place, he said, Germany will gain a special role in Europe's energy market.

"This would mean that Germany is not only a consumer of natural gas but would make it a big European distributor of Russian gas," Putin said. "It would transform the energy face of Germany and strengthen its role in European energy matters."

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