Trust Russia on energy, Putin tells Balkan countries

ZAGREB: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday urged the Balkan countries of southeastern Europe to trust Russia as a reliable energy supplier, as he outlined a series of major new projects with the region.   

Putin made his appeal at a meeting with the leaders of eight Balkan countries in the Croatian capital Zagreb hosted by Croatian President Stipe Mesic.   

He particularly hailed a new project unveiled on Saturday to build a gas pipeline under the Black Sea from Russia to Bulgaria, saying it would benefit all of Europe.   

However, there were signs of dissent among the leaders in Zagreb, notably Romania's pro-Western President Traian Basescu, who made a veiled reference to claims that Russia used its vast energy resources as an instrument of political pressure.   

Addressing the presidents of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia, Putin said it was essential to "strengthen mutual trust" between Moscow and the Balkan countries with regards to energy.   

That, he said, would require "transparency, the rule of law and the absence of any discrimination in the openness of markets."   

"Over 40 years, despite serious, really global changes in the world, Russia has not broken one of its contractual obligations, never," Putin said.   

He said that in projects in the Balkan region, Russia would conform to "the highest ecological standards" and insisted that in the nearby Caspian Sea Russian firms had demonstrated higher standards than their Western counterparts.   

Referring to the plan for a new gas pipeline under the Black Sea unveiled by Italian energy company ENI and Russia's Gazprom, Putin said Gazprom was "the flagship for cooperation with the Balkan countries."   

Gazprom and ENI have already held talks with Bulgaria on the pipeline project and are now examining possibilities for its onward route, which could either go northwards from Bulgaria or to the southwest, ENI said earlier.   

"This is a very promising project. It will undoubtedly improve energy supplies to Europe as a whole," Putin said, adding that the project had also won support from the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.   

Among other projects that the Kremlin is pursuing is the planned Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline from Bulgaria's Black Sea coast to the Mediterranean.   

Putin said this pipeline would have a capacity of 35 million tonnes per year, which could rise to 50 million tonnes annually.   

The Russian leader was careful to avoid any direct reference to political tensions, particularly over Moscow's refusal to advocate any solution to the status of the Serbian province of Kosovo that does not have Belgrade's support.   

But in a response to Putin, Romania's president stressed the importance of energy sources that are viewed by Western governments as useful ways of reducing dependence on Russia, including the planned Nabucco gas pipeline that would bring gas from Central Asia and Iran.   

Russia has run into resistance to its energy policies in the European Union and particularly in newer member states such as Poland which fear they could be cut out of the supply chain.    

"We will never accept the idea of using energy as an instrument of political pressure," Basescu said.    A Croatian-Hungarian plan to build a terminal on the Adriatic coast for delivering liquid natural gas to Europe is aimed at loosening Russia's grip on supply.   

Moscow also wants to limit future expansion of the NATO military alliance, which several countries present on Sunday are either members of or hope to join.