Climate talks. The Russian way
On stage in the COP29 side event was Moscow’s climate envoy and former Chechen prime minister Ruslan Edelgeriev together with the daughters of Chechen militant leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Azerbaijan strongman Ilham Aliev. In the panel was also Erik Solheim, the former Norwegian government minister and leader of the UN Environment Programme.
“There is no international boycott of Russia. The way I see it, it is important to keep the channels open with regard to environment, also to countries with which we have disagreements such as Russia or Israel,” Erik Solheim says in a comment to the Barents Observer. Solheim is former long-serving government minister in Norway and for more than two years headed the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). During the COP29, he participated in a side event organised by Ecumene, a Russian government-linked group. It is not the first time that Solheim participates in events arranged by Ecumene, a group he describes as “a leading Russian environmental organisation.” According to Solheim, communications channels with Russia must be kept open.
“We had constant dialogue with the USA also during the Vietnam war, the Iraqi war and other American wars of aggression,” he adds. In an address at the event, Solheim highlighted the role of BRICS and praised the efforts of China and India in combating climate change. He called on Russia to engage in energy transition and stressed the importance of international cooperation. But he did not with a single word mention the country's war of aggression in Ukraine and its devastating consequences for local environment and international climate efforts. “Environmental questions are existential and have a much longer duration than today's leaders,” he underlines in an email.
For the Russian organisers of the event, the participation of the former UNEP leader was clearly highly appreciated. In the same panel as Solheim was Khadizhat Kadyrova, the daughter of Chechnya's totalitarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The 24-year old woman was early this year appointed to the posts as first deputy head of her father's administration and government of Chechnya. Next to Khadizhat Kadyrova was seated Leyla Alieva, the daughter of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev and a key member of the country's ruling family clan. In the panel was also Ruslan Edelgeriev, the Chechen official, who now works as Russia's top climate envoy in the administration of Vladimir Putin.
Edelgeriev stands close to the Kadyrov family. Before his Kremlin appointment, he held the post as Prime Minister of Chechnya. The COP29 was hosted by an ” authoritarian petrostate with no respect for human rights,” and the criticism from climate activists was clearly reflected also in the Russian delegation. In addition to the Chechens, Moscow's people at the conference included a mix of oil and gas company representatives and state officials from Putin's government agencies. In the event were several representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, among them Boris Titov, Sergei Kononychenko and Vladimir Uskov.
Moderator of the panels was Yekaterina Salugina-Sorokovaya, the First Vice-President of Gazprombank, and prominent representatives of Russian industrial companies Novatek, Rusal and Sibur were among speakers. In the event was also Natalia Törnqvist, the notorious leader of an environmental foundation and wife of Torbjörn Törnqvist. Mr. Törnqvist comes from Sweden and has made billions on trading Russian oil for Gunvor, the company where he is CEO and co-founder.
