Kremlin will favour Norwegian firms to develop Barents Sea field after differences with Bush scupper Russia's bid to join WTO

Conal Walsh
Sunday July 23, 2006
The Observer

President Vladimir Putin is set to keep US oil companies out of a lucrative gas field in the latest sign of the deteriorating relationship between Moscow and Washington.
The Russian leader is expected to favour Norwegian companies and reject bids by America's Chevron and ConocoPhillips after failing to secure backing from the United States for his country's attempt to join the World Trade Organisation.

The tit-for-tat snub will be a blow to US companies scrambling for access to Russia's huge gas reserves at a time of high energy prices. It comes after Putin failed to resolve differences with US President George Bush over trade and human rights at the G8 conference in St Petersburg last week.

The two leaders were barbed about each other's democratic records at a tense G8 press conference. Putin later publicly praised Norsk Hydro and Statoil, the Norwegian firms that are competing with US companies for a role in developing the highly prized Shtokman gas field.

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Originally posted by cco:
Blake: Your link is broken.

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The Times July 25, 2006

Putin's billion-dollar arms sale risks souring Western détente
From Jeremy Page in Moscow



HUGO CHÁVEZ, the ardently anti-American President of Venezuela, arrives in Russia today to sign a billion-dollar arms deal that has infuriated and alarmed the US.
The self-styled leftist revolutionary will sign an agreement with President Putin to buy 30 Sukhoi Su30 fighter jets and 30 military helicopters worth $1 billion (£540 million).

The two leaders will also discuss plans to build two Kalashnikov factories in Venezuela — to add to the 100,000 Kalashnikov AK103 assault rifles that Venezuela has bought from Russia in the past year. The arms deals — and the visit by Señor Chávez — are the latest evidence of Mr Putin’s drive to re-establish Russia as a counterbalance to the West in international affairs.

But they threaten to sour relations with Washington only a week after Mr Putin and President Bush reaffirmed publicly their friendship at the G8 summit in St Petersburg. The US has repeatedly asked Russia to reconsider its arms sales to Venezuela, which the State Department says does not co-operate in the war against terrorism.

Washington has banned US arms manufacturers from selling to the oil-rich South American state, citing its support for Iraqi insurgents and close ties to Cuba, Iran and North Korea. “In the international community’s fight against terrorism, Venezuela is a liability,” Frank Urbancic, a senior State Department official, told the House International Relations subcommittee on terrorism recently. He also expressed concern that Venezuela planned to sell on its new Kalashnikovs, or the guns that they replace, to help to undermine pro-American governments in the region.

Military experts say that the Sukhoi jets could transform Venezuela’s air force into the most powerful in South America within years. Señor Chávez, who calls Mr Bush an alcoholic imperialist, says that the hardware is needed to repel US plans to invade Venezuela and take control of its huge oil reserves.

He even said recently that he could imagine the Sukhoi jets firing missiles at an American aircraft carrier off Venezuela’s main La Guaira port.

Russia says that the sales do not violate agreements and are breakthroughs in a region traditionally dominated by America.

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