Russia-EU summit to focus on energy, Syria

BRUSSELS The 30th Russia-EU summit will start in Brussels on Friday and it will focus on energy, Syria and human rights in Russia. Moscow will be represented by President Vladimir Putin while the EU will be represented by Council President Herman Van Rompuy and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Russia-EU summit to focus on energy, Syria For Putin, the main issue in Friday's talks is EU energy market regulations, which Moscow has described as discriminatory against Russia's state-controlled Gazprom gas company. European officials have warned Gazprom that it would have to allow third-party gas producers to use the future South Stream pipeline to comply with its new regulations. The EU's Third Energy Package bans suppliers from owning transit facilities such as pipelines, AP has reported. Gazprom is also facing an EU probe to determine whether it violated competition rules by linking gas prices with prices for oil. Putin's foreign affairs advisor Yuri Ushakov said that the energy discussions would dominate the summit. He said Putin raised the issues related to the Third Energy Package during his talks last month with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, voicing hope that she and other European leaders would grow more receptive to Russian arguments. "We hope that the discussion with top EU officials will be constructive and help find a way out of the deadlock," Ushakov said at a briefing. Russia has argued that South Stream, which will run under the Black Sea and circumvent the U.S.- and the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline project, should be exempt from the market regulations. The pipeline's construction began earlier this month. Another hotly contested subject at the negotiations would be Russia's increasingly impatient push for visa-free travel with EU countries. While the EU has argued that Russia's porous frontiers with its ex-Soviet neighbors make visa-free travel impossible just yet, the Kremlin has criticized EU officials for dragging their feet on the issue for years. Syria is expected to dominate the discussion of international issues. Russia has backed its last Middle East ally since an uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began in March 2011, using its veto power along with China at the UN Security Council to block three resolutions containing sanctions against Damascus. But shortly before leaving for Brussels, Putin told a news conference that Russia recognizes the need for change in Syria, the AP writes. The EU officials will likely raise issues related to a tough course on dissent Putin has taken since his inauguration in May for a third presidential term, which included arrests and searches of opposition activists and repressive laws aimed against protesters and non-government organizations. Vladimir Putin and Herman Van Rompuy (Beta/AP) Beta

Russia-EU summit to focus on energy, Syria

For Putin, the main issue in Friday's talks is EU energy market regulations, which Moscow has described as discriminatory against Russia's state-controlled Gazprom gas company.

European officials have warned Gazprom that it would have to allow third-party gas producers to use the future South Stream pipeline to comply with its new regulations.

The EU's Third Energy Package bans suppliers from owning transit facilities such as pipelines, AP has reported.

Gazprom is also facing an EU probe to determine whether it violated competition rules by linking gas prices with prices for oil.

Putin's foreign affairs advisor Yuri Ushakov said that the energy discussions would dominate the summit.

He said Putin raised the issues related to the Third Energy Package during his talks last month with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, voicing hope that she and other European leaders would grow more receptive to Russian arguments.

"We hope that the discussion with top EU officials will be constructive and help find a way out of the deadlock," Ushakov said at a briefing.

Russia has argued that South Stream, which will run under the Black Sea and circumvent the U.S.- and the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline project, should be exempt from the market regulations. The pipeline's construction began earlier this month.

Another hotly contested subject at the negotiations would be Russia's increasingly impatient push for visa-free travel with EU countries. While the EU has argued that Russia's porous frontiers with its ex-Soviet neighbors make visa-free travel impossible just yet, the Kremlin has criticized EU officials for dragging their feet on the issue for years.

Syria is expected to dominate the discussion of international issues.

Russia has backed its last Middle East ally since an uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began in March 2011, using its veto power along with China at the UN Security Council to block three resolutions containing sanctions against Damascus.

But shortly before leaving for Brussels, Putin told a news conference that Russia recognizes the need for change in Syria, the AP writes.

The EU officials will likely raise issues related to a tough course on dissent Putin has taken since his inauguration in May for a third presidential term, which included arrests and searches of opposition activists and repressive laws aimed against protesters and non-government organizations.