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Russia-EU pact to cover energy: minister
2007-02-04
The sensitive issue of energy supplies is to feature in a renewed pact between Moscow and the European Union, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said ahead of a meeting with top officials from the bloc. "I think we will reach an accord with the EU on a new strategic partnership deal and that we will fill it with economic accords and particularly ones on energy," Lavrov said on the Russian television channel Kultura. The 27-nation EU relies on Russia for about a quarter of its energy supplies, with much of the oil and gas passing through Ukraine and Belarus. Disputes between Moscow and these two post-Soviet states have caused supplies to EU countries to be temporarily interrupted over the past year, prompting concern over Russia's reliability as a key supplier. Germany, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, is aiming to have an agreement on energy cooperation enshrined in the charter of relations between the bloc and Russia when it is renewed in November. Lavrov said Russia, in dialogue with the EU and the United States, was engaged in "the preparation of real conditions for energy security on the basis of equal rights and duties of suppliers, consumers and countries of transit." The process "will take some time," he said. Russia has so far refused to ratify an existing accord to safeguard supplies, the EU's Energy Charter. Lavrov is due to hold talks on Monday with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, its External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin were at odds when they met last month for talks on energy relations. Merkel called for improved communication on energy between the EU and Russia, while Putin defended Russian moves to drastically increase energy prices for neighbouring former Soviet countries.
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