OT Forum – Andrianopoulos: A channel of communication should be found between the West and Russia

The need to find a channel of communication between the West and Russia was pointed out by the former minister, Director of the Institute of Diplomacy and Global Affairs of the American College of Greece, Mr Andreas Andrianopoulos.

The former minister, speaking at the OT Forum, noted that Europe should have found a way to maintain relations with Russia, so as to face China, which, in the long run, is the West’s main rival. Recent developments have resulted in Russia turning to China,  a fact that strengthens Beijing. In fact, Mr Andrianopoulos estimated that, if the Russia-West confrontation continues, Moscow will start to depend on Beijing. “The world is cahnging, but a channel of communication should be found between the West and Russia” he said, adding that “otherwise we will face a very unpleasant situation.”

Only a blow to exports could “hurt” Moscow

Commenting on European sanctions against Russia and the possibility of Moscow “closing the tap” of gas to the European Union, Mr Andrianopoulos noted that, since the beginning of the war, we were afraid that Russia would close the tap – something that did not happen neither in the Cold War, as the social benefits and the public sector of Russia depend on energy export revenues. He clarified that the suspension of energy imports is the only way to “hurt Russia”, “but, in this way, we, as West, will also suffer”. He noted that the US are taking safe measures, because they will not suffer by the sanctions against Russia, unlike Europe, which depends on the Russian energy.

The former minister stressed that Russia is already sending gas to China, and, in case the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, – which will take about 1.5 years to be completed – is completed earlier, Moscow will be able to replace Europe with China.

Regarding the sanctions that have been taken, Mr Andrianopoulos stressed that they do not really hurt the Russian economy, which depends on energy exports.

There are no common interests in Europe

Regarding the situation in the European Union, the former minister noted that there are no common interests among the states. Describing the prevailing landscape, he said that Germany is trying to overcome the energy agreements with Russia, while Britain, on the other hand, has its own energy supply system and maintains close relations with the USA. The European South has other needs. The countries of the South, apart from their dependence on Russia, “do not have storage facilities”, Mr Andrianopoulos clarified. Thus, even the quantities of the American LNG – which, as he noted, will be 1/10 of the imports from Russia – cannot be easily stored as “there is no storage space”.

Concerning the price hikes

As for the price hikes, Mr Andrianopoulos clarified that this is not a phenomenon that started due to the war, but is due to the measures taken in order to deal with the climate change – the importance of which is doubted, according to his viewpoint. He noted that, in many cases, the market can find a solution on its own, by rising the price of some products and, thus, reducing their consumption.