MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in an article in the Observer newspaper on Sunday that the West should not be dependent on Russia for energy supplies.
"No nation can be allowed to exert an energy stranglehold over Europe," wrote Brown, adding that he would take action to stop the U.K., "sleepwalking into an energy dependence on less stable or reliable partners."
Brown's words came a day after what he called a "frank" phone conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ahead of an EU emergency meeting in Brussels on Monday on the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Brown during their conversation that Moscow was seeking, "constructive dialogue with the EU and other international organizations."
Brown argued for additional funding to construct a pipeline from the Caspian Sea carrying gas through Turkey to the West. This would go around the traditional supply route through Russia and neighboring ex-Soviet republics. Some analysts had suggested that the Nabucco pipeline project could be put in jeopardy by the recent conflict in Georgia.
Russia dismissed on Friday media reports claiming the country planned to cut oil supplies to Europe amid growing tensions over the Georgia conflict.
"Even during the Cold War, the Soviet Union consistently fulfilled its contract obligations to supply energy to Europe irrespective of political or other circumstances," Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who oversees the energy sector in the Russian government, said.
At the EU summit on Monday, the organization is expected to promise to send peace monitors to Georgia. They are also to review ties and relations with Russia in the light of the Georgia crisis.
The recent conflict between Russia and Georgia began on August 8 when Georgian forces attacked breakaway South Ossetia. Russia mounted an operation to expel Georgian troops from the rebel region, and then pushed on into parts of Georgia proper. Moscow announced the end of its operation "to force Georgia to peace" on August 12.
Last Tuesday, Moscow recognized South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway republic, Abkhazia, as independent states, despite warnings from Western leaders not to do so.
"When Russia has a grievance over an issue such as South Ossetia, it should act multilaterally by consent rather than unilaterally by force," Brown said.
"My message to Russia is simple. If you want to be welcome at the top table of organizations such as the G8, OECD and WTO, you must accept that with rights come responsibilities," he added.
The British PM went on to say that, "That is why I will argue tomorrow [at the EU summit] that Russia should accept Georgia's territorial integrity and international mechanisms for addressing these conflicts, and withdraw troops to their previous positions.
"And, in the light of Russian actions, the EU should review - root and branch - our relationship with Russia," he concluded.
He also called on NATO to "re-evaluate the alliance's relationship with Russia and intensify our support for Georgia and others who may face Russian aggression."
Moscow has accused the West of "bias" in the current crisis. Last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. of provoking the conflict in Georgia in order to give an advantage to "one of" the U.S. presidential candidates.
Putin defended on Saturday Russia's actions in South Ossetia, saying it had defended the rights of its citizens.
The former Russian president stressed that Russia did not fear Western sanctions: "Such a country will not be in isolation," he said in an excerpts shown on state-run Russian television.
