Russian intelligence agencies are covertly funding and working with European environmental groups to campaign against fracking and maintain EU dependence on Russian gas, the head of Nato has claimed.
Answering questions after a speech in London, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato secretary-general, said improving European energy security was of the “utmost importance” and accused Moscow of “blackmail” in its dealings with Europe.
“I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organisations – environmental organisations working against shale gas – to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas,” Mr Rasmussen, former Danish prime minister, told an audience at Chatham House, the international affairs think-tank.
Mr Rasmussen did not detail the nature of his suspicions about Russian involvement with environmental groups.
The 28-nation EU bloc depends on Russia for about a third of its oil and gas needs.
Shale gas enthusiasts want curb the EU’s high dependence on Russian imports.
A Nato official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Financial Times that “some allies worry that Russia could try to obstruct possible projects on shale gas exploration in Europe in order to maintain Europe’s reliance on Russian gas.”
Royal Dutch Shell last year struck a production-sharing agreement to develop the Yuzuvska field, which spans 8,000 square kilometres in and around Donetsk.
Denis Pushilin, from the Donetsk People’s Republic organised rallies against shale gas exploration in Donetsk. In May, Mr Pushilin said the Donetsk People’s Republic had banned the extraction of shale gas in territory it controlled in eastern Ukraine.
Protests against fracking have been held in Bulgaria and Romania but green groups in both countries have angrily rejected charges that they are puppets and dismiss the idea of Russia’s influence as a conspiracy theory.
Romania’s president, Traian Basescu, suggested that Russia was playing a role in trying to thwart Chevron’s shale gas development near the village of Pungesti.
Environmentalists reject the charges and accuse the Romanian police of acting as a private security force for Chevron.
Demonstrators have vented their outrage about the danger that shale development would pose to drinking water and geological faults.
Source: FT