Medvedev praises Finland, calls on Sweden
In his meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday, President Dmitry Medvedev praised Finland for its positive assessment of the Nord Stream pipeline project, and called on skeptical Sweden to take a similar position.
In the press conference following the German-Russian meeting, both Merkel and Medvedev expressed strong support for the Nord Stream project.
Medvedev said the countries which remain skeptical to the Nord Stream project should be more “more realistic” about the situation. He thanked the Finnish government for having “proceeded the first phase” and made a positive environmental assessment of the project, a transcript of the press conference posted on the president’s website reads.
-I hope this [Finnish] example will help inspire also our other partners, Medvedev underlined.
The president said he was familiar with the Swedish position and that he respected it. However, he still expressed confidence that additional information would help convince the Swedes and that the country’s chairmanship period in the EU could positively influence the issue.
-Considering that Sweden is the chair of the EU, the country has a major chance to bring contributions to the energy security of Europe, Medvedev said, adding that “we expect that to happen”.
