Faruk Akan | "Todays Zaman" | Dugin: Russia should consider war to head off Nabucco project | 06.02.2009

Faruk Akan

Dugin: Russia should consider war to head off Nabucco project

A leading Russian intellectual has called for war to crush the Nabucco pipeline project as a means of stopping attempts to decrease European dependency on Russian energy resources

"Todays Zaman", 05 February 2009

Alexander Dugin, a Russian intellectual known in Turkey for his controversial support for the Ergenekon terrorist organization - support he later retracted to distance himself from being affiliated with terror - is in the spotlight again after commenting on the Nabucco natural gas pipeline project.

Speaking to the Eurasia.org news portal yesterday, Dugin said the Nabucco project aims to bypass Russia as an alternative gas route and must be prevented at all costs, even if that means waging war. "If a military intervention is needed, then it must be done. This is directly relevant to the geopolitics of natural gas, and all means are allowed in geopolitics," he said.

Dugin is strictly in favor of Russian expansionism and nationalism and is closely affiliated with the Kremlin and Russian military intelligence. He is a strong proponent of the restoration of the Russian Empire through a partitioning of the former Soviet republics and unification with Russian-speaking territories.

"We have to topple Nabucco and partition Ukraine. Ukraine has to be divided into two vassal states. We have to always be a step ahead of our rivals. If we step back on natural gas, this obliges us to step back in other fields, too. And this is impossible to accept," Dugin opined.

Meanwhile, Russian magazine Kommersant Vlast claimed in an article in its most recent issue that an armed conflict is very likely to erupt in a short while on Nabucco. The analysis, penned by Vladimir Solovyev, claimed that the Vladimir Putin administration will do anything it takes to prevent the launch of the Nabucco project. "For the current Russian authorities, participating in the Nabucco project as a supplier country is totally unacceptable. Shying away from using energy as a tool to consolidate Russian political influence is impossible. A war possibility may deter the emergence of a new and strong rival to Gazprom’s presence in the European market. For example, a war between Russia-backed Armenia and Nabucco’s adherent Azerbaijan, on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute..." the analysis asserted.

Azerbaijanis: A war is not that easy

Azerbaijani parliament deputy Asim Mollazade says Russia’s most essential problem now is coping with the global economic downturn and that it has no time to conspire to trigger a war in the region. Vefa Guluzade, a military and political expert who served as foreign affairs advisor to former President Haydar Aliyev, believes a war is definitely not in the interests of Armenia. He thinks Armenia is trying to improve relations with the West and will probably not be willing to endanger them.

Europe frequently feels the threat of the halt of gas flow from its main supplier, Russia, and is a fervent supporter of Nabucco. Last week, the European Commission decided to grant 250 million euros for the project, asking Nabucco partners to accelerate the process. Turkey has on several occasions invited Russia to take part in the project, but Russia has declined.