"What do they want? Gas or independence from Russia?"

Recently, negotiations began between the EU and Russia on a new strategic cooperation agreement. The 54-year-old Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's ambassador to the EU, is reluctant to overdramatise the energy policy questions that are at the centre of the discussions.

HVG: It looks like Russia wants to create a monopoly situation in the Caspian region, buying up gas from in front of the EU's nose. Is that the Putin-doctrine, using energy to serve Russian foreign policy interests?

V. Ch.: We don't buy a single cubic metre of gas from Azerbaidzhan - although we do in Turkmenistan, where a pipeline remains from Soviet times - and we feed that into the European supply network. There's nothing unacceptable in this. I think it's more right to talk about a Bush doctrine. Which country's diplomats travel around Central Asia, persuading governments to build alternative pipelines? Who dreamed up the oil pipeline linking Baku with Ceyhan in Turkey with the single aim of avoiding Russia? Where does the Nabucco idea come from? Should the consumer countries be deciding between gas and independence from Russia? Russia shouldn't be a bogeyman - we have a mutual dependence. We don't have the pipelines to sell gas to anywhere apart from Europe.

HVG: That's why Gazprom is building a pipeline to China. You know the Balkan region well as well. How do you see Kosovo's future after independence?

© Vida László

V. Ch.: We've also emphasised the primacy of international law. Kosovo's status can be determined via negotiations - there is no other solution, since a unilateral declaration of independence won't be sustainable. It's thought-provoking that Kosovo is recognised only by less than a quarter of the world's countries - including just three Muslim countries, and just two in Latin America. Six EU member states haven't recognised Kosovo. I heard the foreign minister of one of those countries say they will refuse to recognise Kosovo even if Belgrade does.

HVG: It's been reported that Russia is putting heavy pressure on the UN Secretary General to delay UNMIK's withdrawal from Kosovo, making it harder for the EU's civilian mission, EULEX to start its work.

V. Ch.: We just reminded Ban Ki Moon of the relevant security council resolution. UNMIK's mandate can only be terminated by a new security council resolution. If the EU has the strength and resources to deal with Kosovo, we are ready to support this - so long as Belgrade agrees and the decision is enshrined in a security council resolution.

HVG: The EU argues that delaying a decision on Kosovo would have risked destabilising the region. But it seems that the two Kosovan communities - the Albanians and the Serbs - can't live together in one state.

V. Ch.: Yes, the situation has become serious. But who got Kosovo to this point? The people who urged the Albanians to keep negotiating for a while longer, since they'd get independence eventually! It wasn't just the Americans, the British, the French and the Germans who encouraged them. Is it any easier for Greek and Turkish Cypriots, for the Spanish and the Basques living under one roof? The Kosovo precedent is now being felt in the Caucasus. The Abkhazians, who want to split from Georgia, and the Ossetians are asking the same question: if the Albanians can, why can't we?

HVG: Let's not forget that the international community's intervention was preceded by a genocide in Kosovo. Moscow has made the odd remark that would seem to be encouraging the separatists of the Caucasus.

V. Ch.: We have to react because since Kosovo declared independence, the Abkhazians and the Ossetians have been under growing pressure. We won't recognise Abkhazia's or South Ossetia's independence. If we thought that was the solution we'd just remain silent until everyone had recognised Kosovo and then we'd do the same with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

LÁSZLÓ VIDA / BRUSSELS