Berlin - The German government has not discerned any signs
that Russia might cut oil deliveries to Europe as part of its
response to the crisis over Georgia, a spokesman said Friday.
'We firmly assume that contracts will be adhered to,' government
spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.
He was responding to a report in the London-based Daily Telegraph
that the Kremlin would order a cut-off in supplies to Poland and
Germany through the Druzhba pipeline.
'There are no signs thus far that contracts and approved
deliveries will not be adhered to,' Wilhelm said.
The Telegraph reported Friday that fears were mounting that Russia
could restrict oil deliveries to Western Europe as soon as Monday
after reports to this effect had begun circulating in Moscow.
'It is believed that executives from lead-producer LUKoil have
been put on weekend alert,' the British daily said.
It said it had been informed by a 'high-level business source'
that the executives had been 'told to be ready to cut off supplies as
soon as Monday.'
Regarding an emergency meeting on Monday of European Union (EU)
heads on the crisis, Wilhelm said Chancellor Angela Merkel's aim was
that the summit sent 'a clear political signal of determination.'
Wilhelm said the EU was united in backing the six-point plan put
forward by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on August 12 during
visits to Moscow and Tbilisi and subsequently signed by Russian
President Dimitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili.
Georgia's territorial integrity had to be respected, he said.
Merkel phoned Medvedev on Thursday to make clear she saw Russian
recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and
Georgia as 'absolutely not acceptable.'
In response to a question, Wilhelm said the chancellor had not
been in contact over the past week with Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin, seen by many observers as the driving force behind
the new hardline approach from the Kremlin.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story