Putin revives energy row with US but promises to help fight terrorism

Putin revives energy row with US but promises to help fight terrorism

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1783359,00.html?gusrc=rss

· Russian leader rejects blackmail accusations
· President denies gas cut off to intimidate Europe

The Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday returned to his feud with the US over energy supplies when he declared that Washington is in no position to deliver lectures after the invasion of Iraq.

Weeks after vice-president Dick Cheney accused Moscow of using intimidation and blackmail in its energy policy, Mr Putin said he would continue to fight for Russia's interests.

"We see how the United States defends its interests, we see what methods and means they use for this," he said, in a thinly veiled reference to the Iraq war.

"When we fight for our interests, we also look for the most acceptable methods to accomplish our national tasks, and I find it strange that this seems inexplicable to someone."

Mr Putin's remarks, at an EU-Russia summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, showed the deep anger in Moscow at the intervention earlier this month by Mr Cheney. In one of Washington's strongest rebukes to Moscow, Mr Cheney accused Russia of using oil and gas as "tools of intimidation or blackmail".

Mr Cheney's intervention, made in the symbolic setting of the former Soviet republic of Lithuania, reflected the unease in many parts of Europe over Russia's aggressive tactics. Russian gas supplies to western Europe were briefly hit in the new year when Moscow turned off supplies to Ukraine in a dispute over prices.

But Mr Putin made clear he was keen to resume strong relations with the US. "There are many ... spheres including the fight against terrorism in which partnership between the United States and Russia cannot be replaced," he said.

The Russian president was also keen to mend fences with Europeans yesterday when he played host to Jose Manuel Barroso, the European commission president, and Wolfgang Schüssel, the Austrian chancellor who holds the EU's rotating presidency. Mr Putin reassured the EU that he would not jeopardise energy supplies to Europe by redirecting resources to China. "China is not an alternative to Europe for energy supplies," he said.

Alexei Miller, the chief executive of the state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, said last month that Mr Putin had decided to sign a gas deal with China after Mr Barroso reportedly threatened to limit Russia's share of the EU gas market.

At a meeting in Moscow last month Mr Barroso warned Mr Putin that Russia could not expect to buy into European distribution networks unless it opened up the Gazprom monopoly.

Mr Putin said he would not open up Gazprom unless Europe opened its energy markets. "If our European partners expect that we will let them into the inner sanctum of our economy - the energy sector - and let them in as they would like to be admitted, then we expect reciprocal steps in the most crucial and important areas for our development."

Mr Barroso responded by saying that he was keen to improve relations. "What we want is a relationship based on ... the principle of interdependence." However, Mr Barroso said that Russia still has work to do to reassure Europe after gas supplies were cut in January. "There are some sensitivities, it is true," he said.