The part I
On May 19-20 the Seventh Baltic Economic Forum took place in the Latvian capital, Riga. This is an annual meeting that since 1999 has taken place in one of the Baltic capitals. 170 delegates took part in this year's session, the overwhelming majority of whom (138) were residents of Latvia. The other 32 delegates arrived in Riga from the neighboring Lithuania and Estonia, and also from Scandinavian countries, the USA, France, Belgium, Poland and Ukraine.
In a pointed manner Russia decided to boycott the Baltic Forum this year, and this decision of the Russian authorities also used the anti-Latvian propaganda campaign. The formal reason for the boycott was a refusal of the embassy of Latvia in Moscow to grant entry visas to the representatives of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Businessmen (RSPP), Aleksandr Orlov and Dmitry Ermolaev. The delegation of RSPP, led by its Vice-President Igor Yurgens, declared in response its refusal to participate in the session of the Forum. Consequently, only three delegates from the city government of Moscow represented Russia at the session. The Russian media claimed that the Latvian economy lost at least $250 million of possible Russian investments because of this scandal.
Describing the situation involving the Baltic Economic Forum, representatives of RSPP declared to the press, with strained naivety, that the Latvian side had refused to issue visas "without any explanations", and that RPP could not imagine what might have caused Riga's behavior, besides, of course, its Russophobia.
Ermolaev himself, however, in his one interview, has leaked the real reason, stating that the probable explanation of the Latvian behavior may be in his participation in the "Russian - Baltic Economic Fund" project. On the issue of this project, Ermolaev said only that it had been "called to promote development of economic relations between Russia and Latvia".
There is information at our disposal that sheds light on both the true reasons of the Latvian authorities` behavior towards Orlov and Ermolaev, and the true intentions of these Russian businessmen. Presently, Dmitry Ermolaev holds the post of the leading RSPP expert responsible for the relations of the organization with the Baltics. However, during the period from 2002 to February, 2005, he acted as the Third Secretary of the Russian Embassy in Riga and was responsible for the issue of economic cooperation. Ermolaev could not boast of any special achievements in this post. But his contacts with the people frankly hostile to the Latvian state did not escape the attention of the Latvian counterespionage experts. These, familiar with Ermolaev from the Riga period of his career, describe him as the Russian chauvinist, supporter of the revival of "Great Russia", including negating the independence of the Baltic states. After his return to Moscow, Ermolaev became involved in the long-term project on power and energy expansion["power and energy expansion" rather vague] to the West undertaken by the Russian leadership. Within the framework of this project, Russian capital is currently purchasing power infrastructures in Eastern Europe. In this connection it is necessary to remember that one of the stages of this project was an attempt to purchase the oil refining enterprises in Poland in 2004 by bribing local officials. Polish intelligence services found out that the officer of the Service of Foreign Intelligence of Russia (SVR), Alganov, was taking an active part in this transaction, and the deal was foiled. A special court of inquiry of the Polish Sejm is presently investigating the circumstances of this transaction.
Ermolaev was in charge of implementing another part of the above-mentioned large-scale Russian scheme - purchase of the transit capacities of the Latvian seaport Ventspils by two Russian economic giants, the LUKOIL and Severstal companies.. Creation of a so-called "Russian - Baltic Economic Fund" was required for the financing of this deal. Alexander Orlov, currently the head of the international relations department of RSPP, and previously an employee of the Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva, took an active role in the creation of this fund. Actually, Orlov and Ermolaev had intended to arrive in Riga already on May 17, two days prior to the Baltic Economic Forum session, to have spare time for negotiations over the creation of the "Russian - Baltic Economic Fund".
Thus, participation in the work of the forum was only a cover for the true purpose of Orlov and Ermolaev`s visit to the capital of Latvia. Both of them, and those behind their actions, realized perfectly that their mission could end in failure. After all, they both are not rookies in this "business", their connections with the Russian secret services is perfectly known to the counterespionage bodies of the EU and NATO.. Thus, the "malicious Latvian authorities" are not to be blamed for the failure of the Russian delegation's participation in the work of the Baltic Economic Forum. Latvians have the right to stop non-desired foreigners from reaching their territory to conduct activities leading to occurrences similar to those mentioned above-, which had taken place in Poland.
The leaders in the Kremlin's administration are to be blamed for sacrificing healthy economic relations with Latvia for the sake of a risky economic project. They are also guilty of the anti-Latvian propaganda campaign in the Russian press, which weakens the already shaky relations between Moscow and Riga.
Main Page | News Page | 007 News | Print
|
