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PIESTANY, Slovakia -- Russia's military intervention in Georgia was aimed at obstructing Europe's efforts to cut its reliance on Russian energy resources and diversify its supplies, Polish President Lech Kaczynski said Saturday.
Kaczynski accused Moscow of using its energy policy to blackmail Europe, which depends heavily on imported Russian oil and gas.
It is in the European Union's interests to diversify sources of energy, but "the situation in Georgia is complicating this," he said.
"I think it was Russia's aim to make it more complicated," Kaczynski said after meeting the presidents of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia in the spa town of Piestany.
He said diversification did not mean that the EU should stop buying Russian energy, but he called on Moscow to change the way it deals with its partners.
"An element of blackmail cannot be included in the energy policy of our partner," Kaczynski said.
Poland Links Georgia War to Energy
15 September 2008
Reuters
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