ZAGREB, January 31, 2019 - Russian Ambassador to Croatia Anvar Azimov said on Wednesday that Russia had nothing against building the Croatian LNG terminal, adding however that his country was prepared to deliver cheap Russian gas to Croatia as much as necessary.
Asked to comment on the energy situation in Croatia, given that the government approved the purchase of the water-based LNG terminal, Azimov said Russia was interested in seeing Croatia always be a safe country energy wise.
Azimov said that on the energy diversification front, the source of the gas supply was always important, that this moment Russian gas was still the cheapest and that Russia last year released two billion cubic metres of gas to Croatia. He said Croatia would always be interested in buying cheap Russian gas.
The Russian ambassador said that last year EU member states imported over 200 billion cubic metres of gas and that Russia has proved itself as a safe partner.
Azimov said that if the floating LNG terminal was to be built, Russia would be happy if it would benefit Croatia. He, however, said he was confident that Croatia and the entire Europe would be interested in cheap Russian gas. Russia is prepared to supply Croatia with gas as much as necessary, he said.
The Russian Ambassador was in Rijeka where he attended the annual meeting of the Croatian-Russian Friendship Society session and spoke about challenges in 2019.
He said that the latest developments in relations between the United States and Russia and Russia and the EU were not good.
The ambassador said sanctions were unfounded and that apart from Russia they also affected the EU and Croatia.
He said Russia was prepared to defend its partners and friends and that it wold not agree to a model on which the United States insisted, stressing that not a single country could control the others.
Azimov said that following Croatia's entry into NATO and the EU, relations between Croatia and Russia had deteriorated, but that Russia was confident that Croatia had made the right choice which suited its interests, namely that Russia respected the fact that Croatia had joined NATO and the EU because that was a reality.
He said it was difficult for him to hear the Croatian government say that its strategic partner was the United States and that there was no mention of Russia. Azimov underlined that Russia was prepared to invest in Croatia and issue loans to it, but that strategic partners were against it.
He underscored that Croatia-Russia relations were now growing, that Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović made a huge contribution to that, as did Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić.
More news on the relations between Russia and Croatia can be found in the Politics section.
