Merkel Hits Out at Russian Oil Pipeline Closure

The German chancellor today joined the EU in attacking Russia over its closure of a pipeline supplying oil to Europe.

Angela Merkel said the decision was "unacceptable" and "destroys trust" after Russia stopped crude exports through the Druzhba (friendship) line, halting supplies to Poland, Germany and several central European countries.

Moscow said it had been forced to act, alleging that Belarus was illegally siphoning off oil.

The European commission and Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency, said it was unacceptable for Russia and Belarus to act without consultation.

"It is not acceptable when there are no consultations about such actions," Ms Merkel said. "That always destroys trust, and no trusting, undisturbed cooperation can be built on that."

The chancellor said she planned to tell both Russia and Belarus that such discussions were a "minimum" need in the event of disputes over energy.

Russia's decision to close the line raised new fears about European dependence on Russian energy sources, a year after oil supplies were disrupted in a similar dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

"While there is no immediate risk to supply ... of course this is a matter for concern," the European commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, said.

Ms Merkel is due to travel to Moscow for talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, later this month. Today's comments came as an opinion poll showed a large majority of Germans believe their country is too heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas.

Moscow and Belarus today held talks in an attempt to settle the dispute ovwer the 2,500-mile pipeline, which has two branches. One runs to Poland and Germany and the other through Ukraine to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

"The dispute between Belarus and Russia should act as a wake up call to the EU commission," Robert Amsterdam, a defence lawyer to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former oil tycoon now in a Siberian jail for fraud and tax evasion, said.

"It cannot allow Russia to retain its stranglehold over Europe's energy supplies without any transparent agreement to legal principles."

Russia and Belarus were once close allies, with Moscow relying on Minsk as a military buffer between it and Nato.

In the mid-90s, the countries signed a loose political union, but the Kremlin has grown impatient at supporting the authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko's regime while receiving little in return.

The current dispute stems from Moscow's recent decisions to impose duties on oil sales to its neighbour, double gas prices and ban sugar imports. Belarus retaliated last week by slapping a $45 (£23) per tonne transit fee on Russian oil pumped via the country.

It comes days after Belarus and Russia reached an agreement on gas prices, with the deal avoiding a new year cut-off of natural gas for Belarusian consumers and averting potential supply shortages in western Europe.

Belarus grudgingly accepted a doubling of the price it pays for imports of Russian natural gas, on which it depends for industry and home heating.

However, the two countries are arguing over oil duties, with Russia determined to stop Belarus from re-exporting petroleum products made from processing Russian oil bought cheaply under the previous duty-free regime.