MOSCOW, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev on Friday met with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on
energy security, the global financial crisis and Russia-EU ties.
"The recent gas crisis has shown that things are far
from perfect here. The situation is very vulnerable," Medvedev told a meeting
with the leadership of the European Commission at the Kremlin.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (R)
greets European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso prior to their
meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 6, 2009. Barroso and nine
commissioners traveled to Moscow on Friday for strategic talks with
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other
government officials. The purpose of this high-level visit was to address
important bilateral issues and to set out the strategic direction for
EU-Russia relations in the coming years. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan) Photo
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"We
need to think about creating a full-fledged international legal system to
protect against such incidents, because the current system doesn't work,"
Medvedev said.
The Russian president urged the European Union to
consider "further steps in the area of ensuring security on the European
continent," apparently referring to Russia's proposal of a new European security
treaty.
Barroso backed Medvedev's view that European energy
security should be ensured.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (R2)
meets with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (L1) at the
Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Shen
Bohan) Photo
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"It is very important now to make efforts to prevent
such problems in the future. We believe energy security is a very important
sphere of interest for Russia and the European Union," Barroso said.
The European Commission chief also called for
"positive interdependence" in relations, saying it is more important now than
ever because of the serious global financial crisis.
The Russia-EU relations deteriorated recently due to
the brief war between Russia and Georgia last August and Russia's gas row with
Ukraine in January, which left millions of Europeans without heating in the
depth of winter for two weeks.
European Commission President Jose
Manuel Barroso (L) meets with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in
Moscow Feb. 6, 2009. (Xinhua/Alexsey Druginyn) Photo
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MOSCOW, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin met with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Friday to
discuss energy security and bilateral economic relations.
Russia and the European Union (EU) are "significant
partners for each other," Putin said after talks with Barroso, noting that
Russia is the EU's third largest trade partner following the United States and
China. Full story
