Trust Russia on energy: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday called for greater trust in relations between Moscow and the Balkan countries of south-eastern Europe, as he outlined a series of energy projects in the region. Putin made his appeal at a meeting with the leaders of eight Balkan countries in the Croatian capital Zagreb hosted by Croatian President Stipe Mesic.
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 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 south-west, 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 tonnes per year, which could rise to 50 million tonnes 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.