The President stressed that the gas pipeline system of the Russian Federation was “the offspring of the Soviet Union”, and only Russia could “maintain it in working condition, even regarding its parts outside the country”, the Presidential Press Service reports. “We will not divide Gazprom,” Vladimir Putin said. He added that the European Commission should have no illusions on this account. “In the gas sphere, they will have to deal with the state,” the President stressed.

For his part, Russian Economy Minister German Gref issued a strongly-worded statement on Thursday. He said the Russian-WTO talks had stalled, and they might be suspended for one year.

“The talks are very difficult. They have reached a deadlock,” the Economy Minister pointed out. He said he had just returned from Brussels, where he had held talks with the European Commission regarding Russia’s entry into the WTO. “We nearly decided to suspend the talks for one year,” he stressed. Mr. Kasyanov asked his German partners to join the process of the Russia-WTO, because “without a political impetus, this problem cannot be solved”.

Mr. Gref outlined two problems at the Brussels talks. One of them is about energy tariffs. The European Commission demands that Russia should raise its domestic tariffs on oil and gas to European levels, making it a condition for Russia’s admission to the WTO. The Economy Minister noted that this issue should not be on the agenda of the talks with the WTO at all, “because this organization doesn’t deal with such issues”. The second problem was about the use of Russia’s gas and transportation system, he said.