Putin lures Poland to accept Gazprom pipeline plans
Poland will receive USD 1bn a year for transit of natural gas if the Polish government agrees to the new pipeline carrying Russian gas into Western Europe being built through Poland bypassing Ukraine, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said at the Russia-European Union summit in Paris. EU and Russia are in talks to double the Russian gas shipments to the EU countries, and Russia's main gas producer Gazprom has officially confirmed that it had signed an initial agreement with German, Italian and French companies to build a pipeline from Russia through Belarus and Poland to Western Europe bypassing Ukraine. Russia's Foreign Minister Ivan Ivanov believes Putin should suggest that EU presses the Polish authorities to approve the plan, to which Poland has so far objected. The Polish government said it did not want to infringe the interests of Ukraine, with which it has a strategic alliance. Poland insists on an international conference of all the countries involved to discuss the issue.
Źródło:IntelliNews Daily
