Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:54 pm
Palin unaware of Russian energy meeting in Alaska
From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
DOVER, New Hampshire (CNN) ? The campaign of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said the Alaska governor was unaware of a visit by Russian energy officials to Anchorage on Monday.
Eight high-level officials from Gazprom, Russia?s state-controlled energy conglomerate, traveled to Anchorage earlier this week to meet with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the chief executive of ConocoPhillips to discuss energy projects and the possibility of expanding into new markets.
The meeting on Alaskan soil comes at a time of chilly relations between Russia and the United States following Russia?s invasion of Georgia in August. Both Palin and John McCain have been critical of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the campaign trail, and Palin raised eyebrows last month in an interview by saying that Putin ?rears his head? by dispatching Russian jets into Alaska?s airspace.
Palin has argued that her state?s proximity to Russia, as well as trade missions between Alaska and Russia, have helped give her the foreign policy experience necessary to be Vice President. But the campaign said the governor did not know that the Gazprom delegation was meeting with the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, who is a Palin appointee.
?Alaska has been, and will remain, very selective about companies with whom they do business,? said Palin spokesperson Tracey Schmitt.
From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
DOVER, New Hampshire (CNN) ? The campaign of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said the Alaska governor was unaware of a visit by Russian energy officials to Anchorage on Monday.
Eight high-level officials from Gazprom, Russia?s state-controlled energy conglomerate, traveled to Anchorage earlier this week to meet with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the chief executive of ConocoPhillips to discuss energy projects and the possibility of expanding into new markets.
The meeting on Alaskan soil comes at a time of chilly relations between Russia and the United States following Russia?s invasion of Georgia in August. Both Palin and John McCain have been critical of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the campaign trail, and Palin raised eyebrows last month in an interview by saying that Putin ?rears his head? by dispatching Russian jets into Alaska?s airspace.
Palin has argued that her state?s proximity to Russia, as well as trade missions between Alaska and Russia, have helped give her the foreign policy experience necessary to be Vice President. But the campaign said the governor did not know that the Gazprom delegation was meeting with the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, who is a Palin appointee.
?Alaska has been, and will remain, very selective about companies with whom they do business,? said Palin spokesperson Tracey Schmitt.
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