Moscow not to ratify Energy Charter Treaty

PanARMENIAN.Net - A tense summit meeting between Russia and the European Union has failed to provide assurances Europe will not face another mid-winter gas cutoff. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has also warned that stronger European ties with former Soviet republics should not turn into an anti-Russian coalition.



Meeting in the city of Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East, Russian and EU leaders failed to bridge differences that block assurances of reliable gas supplies to Europe. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said his country has no problem supplying the fuel or honoring its delivery commitments to Europe. He blamed the continent's recent energy disruptions on the inability of Ukraine to pay for its own supplies. About 20 percent of Europe's supply of natural gas comes from Russia through Ukrainian pipelines.  



Mr. Medvedev said assurances should be provided by those who pay for the gas, and there is room here for cooperation.  



The Russian leader noted that if Ukraine has the money, fine, though he expresses doubt that it does.



He said partners in such circumstances help their partners. President Medvedev said Russia is prepared to help Ukraine, but wants a considerable part of this work to be assumed by the European Union and countries interested in reliable and secure energy cooperation.



Russia is also seeking to replace the so-called Energy Charter Treaty, a 1990's agreement on integration of European and former Soviet energy sectors. Moscow signed, but did not ratify the treaty, which would provide foreign commercial access to Russian pipelines. The European Union does not want the Charter scrapped, but EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Russia has put forth interesting suggestions.  



"We could consider those proposals in the process of revision of the Energy Charter Treaty," he said, VOA News reported.