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Polish blocking of EU-Russia energy accord 'unacceptable': Kremlin
AFP
MOSCOW
Petroleumworld.com 14 11 06
Poland's blocking of efforts by the European Union to draw up a new energy accord with Russia is unacceptable, a senior Kremlin official said Tuesday, quoted by Interfax.
"Yesterday's events showed that in the European Union not everyone agrees even on the start of talks on this new document," said President Vladimir Putin's special representative on relations with the EU, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, referring to a Brussels meeting at which Poland opposed drafting the new document.
"There are partners that try to raise to a European level the purely domestic problems that they have with Russia, to involve the European Union in... overcoming their problems with Russia, which to us is unacceptable," Yastrzhembsky told a business forum in Moscow.
At Monday's meeting, Poland obstructed efforts to formulate an initial position on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Moscow ahead of a European Union-Russia summit on November 24 in Helsinki.
Poland is putting pressure on Moscow to ratify an international energy charter and
lift Russian embargoes on Polish meat and plant products.
In Brussels, Russia's envoy to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, was dismissive of Poland's actions.
"In such matters the language of ultimatums isn't the best approach," Chizhov was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying.
"In this situation we can say that Poland has made an ultimatum to its partners in the EU. I don't suppose this will delight the other 24 countries or the European Commission," he said.
AFP 14 0922 GMT 11 06
Copyright© 2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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