West should not depend on Russia for energy: Brown

MOSCOW: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the West should not be dependent on Russia for energy supplies, the Observer newspaper reported on Sunday.

“No nation can be allowed to exert an energy stranglehold over Europe,” said Brown, adding that he would take action to stop Britain “sleepwalking into an energy dependence on less stable or reliable partners.”

Brown’s words came a day after what he called a “frank” phone conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ahead of a European Union (EU) emergency meeting in Brussels on Monday on the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.

Economic Times