Appeals To Russia Over Halted Oil Transit

The Latvian Foreign Ministry submitted a note on 20 February to the Russian Embassy in Riga asserting that Russia is not fulfilling the Latvian-Russian government agreement of June 1993 on joint utilization and operation of crude-oil and oil-product pipelines located in Latvia. The note stated that while Latvia has invested significant funds in modernizing the pipeline, which is owned by the jointly established operator LatRosTrans (Russia owns 34 percent of LatRosTrans), the Russian state-owned oil exporter Transneft decided unilaterally, and without consultations, to halt all oil shipments to the port of Ventspils in the first quarter of 2003. The Foreign Ministry has already informed the European Commission about the pipeline blockade. Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga told reporters on 20 February after returning from Washington that U.S. President George W. Bush inquired about the blockade and pledged to help Latvia end it.