Boris Shmelev, Head of the Center for Comparative Political Studies

– Economy will not be able to develop without stable energy supply

Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation has confirmed that it has sufficient financial capacities to start the construction of Baltic NPP (Kaliningrad region) in 2010, Minister of Energy of Russia Sergey Shmatko said during a briefing after a conference on energy security held in Kaliningrad on June 6 2009. Governor of Kaliningrad region Georgy Boos said that Rosatom and the Government of the region have agreed that the 1st unit of the plant will be launched in 2016, the 2nd in 2018. “Nobody doubts that the plant will be commissioned in time, in 2016,” he said.

Despite the crisis, Russia is doing its best to avoid curtailment of its investment program in the real sector. We must continue developing our energy sector as our economy will not be able to develop without stable energy supply.

In this light, the decision to continue the preparations for the construction of Baltic Nuclear Power Plant in Kaliningrad region seems quite logical. Stable energy supply will make our exclave independent from the import or transit of energy from neighboring states.

I hope that the Ministry of Energy will keep its promises and will put into practice all of its statements.

The crisis has shown that we can overcome it only by building a new economy. This requires big investments. The business has proved unable to provide enough money. The government has seen that and is beginning to act.

So, we can say that the crisis has had a positive influence on the Russian government and the construction of Baltic NPP is a particular example of this trend.