"Unfortunately, halts have occurred in the process in connection with the EU's idea to integrate Ukraine and Moldova into its power grid, and that is a rather new project that needs to be adapted to the already existing one," Leonid Drachevsky, a deputy board chairman of Russia's electricity monopoly, Unified Energy System, said.
Drachevsky said a project to synchronize the energy systems of Russia, CIS, the Baltic countries and the EU has been ongoing for a few years now. The project is aimed at making the national power grids work on a single electricity frequency, which will make possible electricity power flows on interstate lines.
He said Russia is interested in powerful European companies becoming strategic investors with Russia's power industry, and of acting as the main shareholders in some generating companies.
Russia's power sector has undergone radical changes in recent years aimed at increasing the efficiency of power plants and developing the industry by attracting investment. During the restructuring process, specialized structures were created in place of the old vertically integrated companies.
