MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso sent a reply Thursday to a letter by Russian President Vladimir Putin to European leaders regarding the potential impact on energy supplies by the crisis in Ukraine.
"The European Union agrees on your proposal for consultations with the Russian Federation and Ukraine with regard to security of gas supply and transit," read the letter, which was published online.
"However, we do not share your assessment of trade relations between Ukraine and the European Union that, to a large extent, the crisis in Ukraine's economy has been precipitated by the unbalanced trade with European Union member states," the letter added.
Last week, in a letter to 18 European leaders, Putin voiced concerns about Ukraine’s debt crisis that, he said, could lead to disruptions of gas supplies, which transit Ukraine on their way from Russia to Europe.
He also called for urgent consultations at the ministerial level in order to work out collaborative actions to stabilize Ukraine’s crisis-hit economy.
