Russian President Dimitry Medvedev has failed to secure backing for the Nord Stream pipeline while on a trip to Finland Tuesday, Russian media have reported.

The trip, which the Kremlin confirmed involved talk about the pipeline, was reported by city daily The Moscow Times.

"As Finns have said earlier, the gas pipeline is an ecological question," Finnish Prime Minister Tarja Halonen was quoted by the online paper as saying. According to the news outlet, the failure will mean the onset of “bargaining” in the coming months.

The pipeline is seen as critical to the viability of some Russian gas fields and to an eventual Baltic terminal for liquefied natural gas.

Despite the use of western contractors and experts with hundreds of combined “man-years” of experience and impeccable safety records, Baltic States from Sweden and Poland to Estonia and Finland have played an “environment card” widely seen as power politics to put down the Russo German pipeline. Gazprom and E.ON Ruhrgas are major owners of the Nord Stream pipeline company.

Meanwhile, Norwegian, Swedish and Polish interests have promoted another “Baltic Pipeline”, the so called Skanled. Investors have had cold feet about the pipeline, but an environmental impact survey is understood to be underway.

The Moscow Times said Halonen put a date for Helsinki’s decision on the pipeline as possibly coming in July.

Tags: Nord Stream AG