Russian Foreign Ministry Focus on SCO

June 20 (EIRNS)—A session of the Collegium of the Russian Foreign Minister, chaired today by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, was devoted to preparations for Russia's chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), beginning later this year. A foreign ministry statement said that working through the SCO is "one of the priorities of Russian foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific Region," and noted that the organization is of growing importance for regional security, stability, and cooperation.

Russians Invited to Saudi Oil Conference

June 20 (EIRNS)—Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal today initiated a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign ministry announced. The purpose of the call was to invite Russian participation "at the appropriate level," in what is billed as an international conference of oil producing and consuming countries, taking place June 22 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz called for the conference—for producers, consumers, oil companies, and financiers (including hedge funds!)—initially to highlight the role of "speculation" for the high prices. King Abdullah and officials from OPEC emphasized that these inflated prices are not being received by the producer nations. However, since then, speculators have counter-attacked with a major media offensive to take the heat off their role.

On June 11, Lyndon LaRouche commented on the Saudi-proposed conference, saying, "Blame the Queen," and the Anglo-Dutch controlled spot market. What is involved "is not speculation, but rather pure thievery," LaRouche said.

On June 7, in a speech to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, talking about food prices, likewise emphasized that it was due to "complex financial instruments," that "the crisis became systemic."

Gazprom Head Says Oil Will Reach $250 a Barrel

June 11 (EIRNS)—Alexei Miller, CEO of the Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, in a speech to the 11th Annual General Meeting of European Business Congress, Deauville, France on June 10, forecast that oil will hit $250 a barrel. He said this in the context of a speech on the business strategy of Gazprom, with particular emphasis on Europe.

While terming recent drastic oil price movements as "partially driven by speculation," Miller framed his remarks to emphasize Gazprom's indispensable role as an energy supplier for Europe. In the run-up to the June 26-27 EU-Russia summit in Khanty-Mansiysk, numerous EU officials have voiced a desire to make Gazprom change various of its practices, in the name of "energy security." Said Miller, "Recently, much has been said in Europe about the need to diversify its energy sources. Europe's desire to diversify energy supplies is very understandable. But this talk seems to be based on a strange assumption that anything is better than to rely on Russian energy suppliers. It is hard to see a justification for this misplaced belief." He argued that attempts to circumvent Gazprom as a supplier of Central Asian gas, as well as Russia's own, were actually helping to drive prices upwards, as the overall supply of gas was not being increased.

The Russian official said he was "concerned about certain protectionist tendencies resurfacing in the EU," in the form of what he called an "anti-Gazprom clause," invented by the European Commission to bloc Gazprom acquisitions of distribution companies in Europe.

Russian-Chinese Trade Almost Doubled

June 16 (EIRNS)—Speaking at the 19th International Fair for Trade and Economic Cooperation in Harbin, Ling Ji, deputy director of the Europe department at China's Ministry of Commerce, said that Russian-Chinese bilateral trade rose 39% during January-May 2008, compared to the same period one year earlier. The jump came on top of a 44% increase in 2007 over 2006, bringing the annual turnover to $48.2 billion, Novosti information agency reported.

Ji said that China had a trade surplus with Russia in 2007, for the first time in 15 years, but that measures are planned to bring the goods flows into balance. He said the exports of Chinese electronics and engineering products to Russia in 2007 accounted for about 40% of total exports to Russia ($10.3 billion) while 90% of China's imports from Russia were energy products and raw materials. In his recent visit to China, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev emphasized the importance of increased trade between the two countries, and that the technological level of the goods traded had to rise.

Food Security Meetings in Moscow

June 20 (EIRNS)—Two top-level meetings in Moscow today took up the question of food security, amid soaring food prices. According to official figures (which tend to understate the rate of inflation), January to June retail food price jumps in Russia included millet by 32.1%, pasta +25.5%, sunflower seed oil +24.5%, flour +23%, rice +21.6%, bread +18.8%, and sugar +16.9%. About one-quarter of the population has an income below the official poverty line. Institution of a food-stamps program for the poorest citizens is under discussion in official circles, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda.

President Dmitri Medvedev chaired a Security Council meeting today, and only one item on the agenda was disclosed in detail: a discussion of food security, for which Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev, First Deputy Prime Minister Victor Zubkov, and Finance Minister Kudrin were brought in.

The second meeting to address food security was a session of the Economic Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), attended by the economics minister or a deputy prime minister of each country. The RBC business wire, reporting that this was the first time the CIS Economic Council had met on food security, quoted Academician Sergei Glazyev: "Even posing the question of a food security doctrine for the CIS is a big step forward," and an opportunity for economic integration in the region. For Russia and the other members, Glazyev added, the crisis should be taken as an opportunity to resuscitate their own agricultural production and reduce import-dependency.

NATO Chief Visits Ukraine

June 17 (EIRNS)—NATO Secretary-General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer visited Ukraine the week of June 16, to continue pre-consultations on the country's future membership status in the Atlantic Alliance. NATO's potential expansion into Ukraine was criticized, once again, by Russia during the recent visit to Berlin of President Medvedev. On June 6, Medvedev said that Ukraine's joining NATO would throw the existence of the basic treaty between Russia and Ukraine into doubt.

In recent weeks, a steady stream of mutual retorts has flowed between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries, as well as other officials, over a range of issues, including the status of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which is based in Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. Russia's lease of the naval base expires in 2017, after which time, the Yushchenko regime has said it will not be extended.