Russia gets tough on energy sales to Europe

In a new signal that Russia has toughened its position on energy sales to Europe, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had no intention of observing guidelines in the EU’s energy charter that would allow non-Russian companies access to the country’s vast pipeline network.

“We will not ratify the energy charter,” the adviser, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Putin’s special envoy to the European Union, told a small group of reporters Monday night. “It would be damaging for Russia if we ratified it.”
International Herald Tribune