Putin meets with EU leaders

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with three top European Union leaders at his summer retreat near the town of Sochi in southern Russia Thursday to discuss issues including illegal immigration and energy policy.

President Putin sought to reassure his guests that Russia remains a reliable supplier of gas and oil, despite concerns about policies pursued by the giant Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom.

In addition to causing a shortfall of natural gas supplies to Europe earlier this year due to a price dispute with neighboring Ukraine, Gazprom refuses to open up its distribution network to other companies.

Putin tried to assure his European Union partners that China was no substitute for Europe as a market for Russia's oil and gas although Russia was developing markets for its energy resources.
European fears of excessive energy reliance on Russia, which supplies a quarter of Europe's gas and is its second-biggest supplier of oil, increased further amid talk that Russia's state-controlled natural gas giant, Gazprom, was considering acquiring Britain's largest gas distributor and negotiating similar deals in other EU nations.

When British officials warned of possible legal changes to block such a deal, Gazprom and even Putin himself angrily warned that the gas monopoly could refocus its future export strategy toward an energy-hungry eastern neighbor - China - if the EU blocked the company's access to the European retail gas markets.

Russia is also seeking to expand its grip on gas distribution networks in Western Europe.

Also adding to the already downward relations with US, Mr Putin hit back at the criticism from US Vice-President Dick Cheney earlier this month. Mr Cheney accused Moscow of rolling back democratic reforms and of using its energy resources to blackmail other countries but Mr Putin said his allegations smacked of hypocrisy.

"We see how the United States defends its interests, we see what methods and means they use for this," he said. "When we fight for our interests, we also look for the most acceptable methods, and I find it strange this seems inexplicable to some."