Putin in Croatia pushes new energy strategy

Putin in Croatia pushes new energy strategy

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

The Russian leader 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.

"We're convinced that to deepen our contacts in energy we need to strengthen mutual trust," Putin told the presidents of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, Greece, and Serbia .

"For that we need transparency, the rule of law and the absence of any discrimination in the openness of markets," 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 companies 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 called it "very promising" and said that 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.

Putin also stressed wider cultural ties with the Balkans, saying that Russia's economic activities were aimed at making the region a "zone of stability and security."

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 tons per year, which could rise to 50 million tons 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.

A series of bilateral meetings later in the day were expected to provide opportunities for such discussions however.

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.

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.

Croatian President Stipe Mesic said that countries in the region were "an important hub of energy routes and have all the potential to develop into an even more important hub in the future."

"We can only achieve this through mutual cooperation in the region," he added.