Russia pushes back on Nabucco

BERLIN, May 20 (UPI) -- Russian officials stepped up their rhetoric calling on Europe to include Russian gas in their energy diversification strategy at a bilateral summit in Berlin.

A January row between Kiev and Moscow over gas debts and contracts prompted Russian energy giant Gazprom to disrupt gas transits to Ukraine. That dispute left Europe starved for gas as 80 percent of its Russian gas travels through Soviet-era pipelines in Ukraine.

As a result, the European Union moved to strengthen its energy diversification strategy by focusing on the $10.7 billion Nabucco pipeline, which would travel from Central Asia through Turkey to European markets.

Vladimir Chizhov, the Russian envoy to the European Union, had blamed Brussels for its reliance on the Nabucco pipeline at the Berlin meeting. Later, Gazprom deputy chief Alexander Medvedev followed suit, saying Brussels was letting politics overshadow pragmatism in the energy sector, RIA Novosti reports.

"It isn't Gazprom, but Russophobe politicians that are a real threat to Europe's energy security," he said.

He said Europe would face a massive energy shortfall by 2020 if it continues to move away from Russian gas supplies, adding that coupling Russian gas to European energy security was "fictitious and politicized."

Russia is pushing hard for its Nord Stream pipeline to Germany and South Stream pipeline to Italy and Austria, while European partners lobby potential gas suppliers, including Iraq, for the Nabucco pipeline.