EU energy commissioner targets Russia in first visit

Apr 7, 2010, 13:01 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's energy commissioner made Russia the destination of his first official trip outside the EU on Wednesday as building work started on a controversial gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Russia is by far the EU's largest supplier of natural gas, but member states in Central and Eastern Europe accuse it of abusing that position for political reasons, making the question of energy supplies a hot diplomatic issue.

'Russia is a strategic partner for Europe, and we hope to improve further our energy relations based on confidence and mutual trust,' EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said.

Oettinger was due to spend three days in Russia, meeting the country's energy minister, Sergei Shmatko, and the head of state gas company Gazprom, Alexei Miller, a statement from his office said.

The statement stressed that the visit was Oettinger's first outside the EU in his current capacity, highlighting the importance of Russian energy supplies for the EU's market.

On Friday, Oettinger is set to attend the official launch of construction work on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which is set to run 1,220 kilometres under the Baltic Sea from the Russian city of Vyborg to the German town of Greifswald.

The pipeline has been a controversial topic ever since it was planned by Russian premier Vladimir Putin and German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 2005.

Putin and Schroeder agreed the project without consulting any of the EU's new members, such as the Baltic States and Poland.

Those states expressed anger at the move, saying that the pipeline would threaten their security by allowing Russia to shut off their supplies without harming relations with Germany.

Russia has on several occasions shut off energy supplies to the region, especially at moments of political tension.

Parallel to improving its relations with Russia, the EU is trying to find gas from new suppliers to reduce its dependency on Moscow, putting hundreds of millions of euros into pipeline projects through Turkey to the Caucasus.

Oettinger is set to visit Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan next week as part of that push. The EU sees the two countries as crucial alternative suppliers to weaken Russia's market dominance.